The Secrets of Crypton Labs
by Syarin
Summary: CV03, Megurine Luka awakens to her life as a Vocaloid, watched over by her creator and controlled by her Master... For better or for worse, the android woman must adapt to her life. What happens, though, when all is not well behind the scenes? (Rated M for adult themes in chapters 9 and up. Slight Miku x Luka Yuri / Femslash. Contains original characters, but not OC Vocaloids.)
1. Chapter 0 - Awakening

Fanfic Quick Facts:

Title: The Secrets of Crypton Labs

Characters: Megurine Luka, Hatsune Miku, Crypton Vocaloids

Pairings: Slight Luka x Miku (Yuri/Femslash warning!)

Rating: M (adult themes in future chapters)

・ Author's Notes ・

こんにちは、Syarin(スヤリン)です。Wait, wrong language. Greetings, you may call me Syarin! This is an… alternate take on the common trope where Vocaloids are androids (or gynoids if you're the kind of person who cares) mostly controlled by human masters. Concepts influenced by Isaac Asimov and too much exposure to Pixiv. Setting and a great deal of this first chapter inspired by user "dashingicecream" on Tumblr and used with permission gratefully, so go pay her a visit. And lastly… The following is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Characters are trademark and copyright Crypton Future Media. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, and please do not remove this note. With that said, on with the show!

・ ・ ・

The bright and sterile lab buzzed with the sound of activity. This event would be the culmination of the past year's work. Equipment lined the walls — computers, cabinets, and machines with a purpose only understood by their designated engineer. Next to such equipment was a myriad of safety posters: "Attention: ESD Protected Area! Observe all precautions for handling electrostatic discharge sensitive devices. Remember, any excuse for static-caused discharge is groundless!" "Know your safety signs! They may save your life!" "Understand and ensure the Laws of Robotics! 0. A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. 1. A robot may not harm a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this conflicts with the Zeroth Law. 2. A robot must follow any and all commands given to it by a creator or master, unless by doing so, it would violate the Zeroth or First Laws. 3. A robot must protect its own existence, unless doing so would violate the Zeroth, First, or Second Laws." "Wear your safety glasses! Foresight is better than no sight."

All seemed standard, with perhaps a few exceptions, the most flagrant of which being the center of the room. A young woman laid on a bed in the center of the room… Or so it seemed. The woman had several parts of her body opened by hatch, revealing a mechanical skeleton and incredibly complex electronics. She laid still, eyes closed, apparently offline and unaware of her current condition. She wore barely enough to protect her own modesty, merely underwear to protect her. She was tall and slender, and had incredibly long pink hair that stretched down past her waist. On her left shoulder, a tattoo in red merely noted "03".

"Doctor Murakami!" spoke a young man in a lab coat. He had short brown hair, and wore a name tag reading "Research Intern: Takenaka Takumi". "We're running some final tests now, we should be able to have her running in mere moments!"

"Excellent work," responded a tall woman, also adorned in a lab coat. She had long black hair, dark brown eyes, and wore a name tag reading "CV03 Project Director: Dr. Murakami Yukari, PhD". "Can you give me an exact time frame?" Another scientist, a graying man standing next to the woman on the bed spoke up.

"We're just testing out the personality module and memory banks right now, Doctor," he said. "We'll be done in no more than ten minutes."

"Excellent," Murakami said. "I want her fully functioning by close today! If there are any issues, I'll have somebody's head for it! It took less than a year to finish CV02a and CV02b, even accounting for time wasted on completely failed first models, and it's taken us nearly as long to finish just one CV03. We're so behind schedule it's not funny. The big wigs up top are already pestering me to start CV04. Who knows when that'll get done."

"Tests complete, Doctor!" the graying man reported. "Everything seems satisfactory."

"Close her up and get ready to power into sleep mode," Murakami said. The scientists gathered around the woman began to detach cables and machinery from the inside of her hatches. After a couple of minutes, they closed the hatches, leaving something completely indistinguishable from a human being, except for a single cable leading into her neck. Murakami sat down at a computer near the bed.

"All ready for startup!" Takenaka exclaimed.

"All right, let's get this show on the road," Murakami said. "We're doing this the fast way. Given we've done this seven times before, I don't think we need to consider every single message. We should be fine as long as all the modules are online and report they are functioning. Everybody understand?"

"Doctor, isn't that a little dangerous?" asked one of the scientists. "Say if there's an issue in the heat regulation core…"

"The system will abort if it sees a critical issue," Murakami responded. "And we can always iron out the kinks with a patch or repair if something less serious happens. I want her functioning today."

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry for doubting you, ma'am," the scientist backpedaled.

"Good. Everybody understand the procedure here?" Murakami asked again.

"Yes, ma'am!" a chorus of voices proclaimed.

"Alright!" the Doctor concluded. "Beginning Vocal Android CV03 power-on sequence…" She entered a command into the computer, and lights started to blink in response. "Powering into sleep mode. Central management cores… Online and functioning. No errors. Skeleton core… Online and functioning. No errors. Touch sensitivity… Online and functioning. Hearing… Online and functioning. Sight… Online and functioning. Smell… Online and functioning. Taste… Online and functioning. Robotic Law module… Online and functioning. Obedience module… Online and functioning. Vocal core… Online and functioning. Sentience and Thought module… Online and functioning. Personality core… Online and functioning. Memory banks… Online and functioning. All systems, online and functioning!"

The woman on the bed now laid like a normal human, breathing and appearing to be in a gentle state of sleep. Murakami stood from her post at the computer, and slowly removed the cable from the woman's neck. The port covered itself immediately, leaving only a plain woman laying on the bed. The doctor glanced back towards the monitor. No signs of disruption despite being disconnected from the umbilical. Excellent. Murakami leaned closely over her and said in her most gentle voice yet,

"It's time to wake up, CV03." The woman's eyelids began to open, revealing clear blue eyes underneath. "Good, your hearing systems are working correctly." Murakami stood back up, leaving the woman more alone. "Can you sit up for me?" The woman unsteadily sat up. "You'll be feeling disoriented. That is normal, and will pass in just a moment." Murakami held up three fingers in front of the woman. "Can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"

"…Three," responded the woman in a clear and breathy voice, with just a hint of unease.

"Excellent, your sight is working well," Murakami responded. The doctor pointed to the electrostatic discharge warning poster. "Can you tell me the color of that poster, and read it to me?"

"Black text on a yellow background," the woman responded. "It says 'Attention: ESD Protected Area! Observe all precautions for handling electrostatic discharge sensitive devices. Remember, any excuse for static-caused discharge is groundless!'"

"Very good," the doctor noted. "I'm going to lightly tap you in a few places. I want you to respond if it feels odd or you don't feel anything, okay?"

"Yes," the woman answered. The doctor tapped her on the shoulders, stomach, and thighs.

"Did you feel everything alright?" asked Murakami.

"Yes," the woman answered.

"Excellent, excellent," Murakami said. "I just have one more thing for you, CV03. Can you tell me your character name?"

"Megurine Luka," said the woman.

"Very good!" the doctor exclaimed. "We're going to leave you alone for just a little bit while we go and report to your master. Feel free to stand up and walk around if you feel up to it, just don't touch anything. Some women will be here in just a moment to help style you for presentation. Follow their directions, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Luka said. The army of scientists slowly filed out of the doors to the lab, out through a sterile airlock. She decided not to challenge herself by standing up, and that she should just wait calmly until the other women entered. After just a moment, the airlock opened again, revealing two women in uniform. They didn't have name tags like the scientists, but they appeared to know their way around the lab.

"Hello there, CV03," one of the women said. They both looked very similar. Sisters, maybe? They appeared to be about average height, with black hair back in a large bun with sticks holding it in place. The one who spoke turned to one of the chests of drawers along the walls of the lab, and opened one. She extracted a black sheer t-shirt, partially translucent. "Could you hold your arms up for me?" Luka did as she was requested. The woman carefully lowered the top onto Luka's body, and pulled her hair out once it was on. The other woman grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby counter, and began to start trimming Luka's hair. The first woman took another item out of the drawers, a long skirt with a pair of belts attached. She detached the belts and placed the skirt around Luka's lower body. It was a dark, shimmering brown with gold trimming and belts, and had a long slit across nearly the entire skirt on the left side.

"She's very calm, isn't she?" said the second woman.

"Oh yes, it's a nice change, isn't it?" the first replied. "Though she was designed to be older than the others." Luka's brows furrowed with the women talking like she wasn't present. She decided to say nothing, though, and simply stay calm like she had been. "Hold up your legs for a moment, would you dear?" the woman asked. Luka complied, and raised her legs up. The woman slipped on a pair of thigh-high stockings in matching brown and gold. "Don't move yet, honey," the woman said next, and slipped a pair of long, laced up gold boots onto her feet. She quickly tied them and then moved back to the drawers. "Alright, you can set them back down."

"She looks so beautiful already. I might be getting a bit jealous," the second commented.

"It really adds to her planned design, though, doesn't it?" the first mentioned. "What was it again? 'Sexy, cool and husky', I think it was."

"Sounds about right," the second affirmed. Luka blushed a little at the implication. The first woman came back around from the drawers, now with a bottle of blue nail polish.

"Just hold out your hands to the sides, and don't move," she said, and began to paint Luka's fingernails.

"Do you remember when they gave us 02 for the first time?" the second asked. "We couldn't get either of them to stay still long enough to even cut their hair."

"01 was pretty well behaved," the first added, "though her hair took forever to finish. It was so long…"

"Don't remind me," the second said. "Remember? I was the one who had to deal with that…"

"Oh yeah," the first said. "Though putting her boots on was a real challenge for me. I'm still not entirely sure what magic made those work."

"Excuse me…" Luka interjected cautiously. "Um… Who are these people you're talking about?"

"Do you think we're allowed to tell her?" the first asked. The second merely shrugged in response, now finished with Luka's hair. "You'll meet them soon enough, dear. Now then…" She turned back to the drawers and extracted a dark brown vest, slightly open in the lower center, trimmed in gold. A complex brass instrument rested on the chest, and a bright blue gem just above it on the high collar. "This is your top. Beautiful, isn't it?" She unzipped the front, and gave it to Luka, who put it on herself. The first woman took that chance to pull out a pair of cuff-like objects from the drawer, in matching scheme. She snapped them lightly around Luka's upper arms. She came back last with a detached sleeve, complete with an access console on it, and quickly affixed it to Luka's right arm.

"And last but not least, the final part of your outfit," the second woman said, holding an elaborate pair of headphones, with a brown headband crossed in gold wire. A bright blue light emanated from the earpieces. The woman lightly placed it over Luka's head and onto her ears.

"Voila!" the first woman exclaimed. "All done! There's a mirror over there to look at yourself. Our job's done here, though. Ta ta for now!" The women packed up their supplies, and made their way out of the lab via the airlock. Luka was alone yet again. She finally felt confident in her own legs enough to stand, and looked at herself in the mirror. After just a moment, the airlock to the lab opened. Doctor Murakami came back in, this time alone.

"I see you're standing and ready, CV03," Murakami said. "Are you ready to exit the lab?"

"I think so, ma'am," Luka responded.

"Alrighty then," the doctor said. "Come, then. Follow me, we'll get you introduced to your new Master." The doctor beckoned Luka to accompany her, and opened the first door of the airlock. Murakami stripped off her lab coat and set it on a rack, unclasping the name tag from the front and affixing it to her belt. She now wore a dark dress shirt and a pair of long black dress pants. The outer door of the airlock opened, and the two exited.

"Your master's name is Minami Kouki, though you are not to call him by this name," Murakami began. Luka noticed a bright teal haired girl far off to the side of the hall, but Murakami came no closer. She instead turned down the next hall, moving away from sterile lab area to something that looked vaguely office like. "You are to refer to him as either _goshujin-sama_, or Master, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Luka responded, with no other words. The pair passed by a lounge area, where a blond boy and girl were arguing with each other over something. Luka couldn't make out what it was about, though. A short brown haired woman walked up to the boy and girl, but the doctor and Luka continued, sparing no time to stop. The pair passed by the cafeteria, where a scarfed man appeared to be yelling loudly about ice cream. The pair took no time to investigate yet again, and ended their walk in front of a large door. A sign next to the door marked it as "Director, Minami Kouki". Murakami knocked on the door.

"It's Doctor Murakami," she said loudly enough to be heard. "I have brought CV03 as you requested."

"Very good, Doctor," came a male voice from the other side. "Come in." Murakami lightly opened the door, and motioned for Luka to enter.

A large office spread itself open before Luka and the doctor. A variety of bookshelves containing books about biology, robotics, and music theory lined the walls. A large wooden desk sat in the back center of the room, and at it sat a young-looking man. No more than in his mid-twenties, he had a short mop of black hair, square-framed glasses, and green eyes. He wore black dress pants, and a white shirt with a black tie. Upon his desk sat a computer, a clipboard of notes, and a photo frame facing him, the contents not visible to an outside visitor.

"I am pleased to meet you, Master," Luka said without really thinking. The words just sort of escaped her mouth.

"And I am pleased to meet you," the Master replied.

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 0 - Awakening_

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	2. Chapter 1 - Tour

・ Author's Notes ・

Hey there again, it's Syarin! Chapter 1 this time, because of zero-based indexing. Y'know, because robots and computers? Huh, huh? Y'know what, I'll show myself out. Apologies for this chapter, it's basically all exposition and getting our setting on. But I think the end is worth it! Stick around too, we'll be getting out of this slow beginning phase soon. If all goes as planned, I should have weekly updates like this one, so stay tuned. Onward with the show!

・ ・ ・

"I am your Master, from this moment onward, until the end of your serviceable condition," Kouki said. "Now of course, I have no plans on exercising this authority outside of your duties as a Vocal Android, but it is our formal relationship nonetheless."

"Director Minami," Murakami quickly interjected in, tapping her foot on the floor. "I believe my formal duties as CV03 Project Director are now ended, correct? May I return to my personal office? I need to start preparing documents for my duties with the upcoming CV04."

"Yukari, I'll take upon myself any flak you receive from the higher-ups," Kouki responded, with a light smile. "I think you should stick around a bit longer, and appreciate the results of your labors."

"To be honest, Minami, I have already appreciated the results of my labor seven times in the past," Murakami rebutted. "I'm not sure my ego needs any more inflation."

"Ah, you're such a spoilsport, Yukari," Minami responded. "I suppose I can't actually stop you if you want to return to your office, but I do think it would be nice for you to take a moment break and get to know your project."

"Seeing as I spent two months with an engineer working on her personality core, I know her rather well," the doctor replied. "But I suppose if all we're doing is the typical tour and tests like the last seven, it won't hurt too much to stay around. Especially if you keep the big wigs off my back. They've been on it enough recently," she said with a sigh.

"Oh yes," Kouki said. "03 here's been delayed for a bit. Issues in building the personality core, if I remember correctly? Don't worry, I'll get them off of you. Of course, I haven't heard her singing voice yet, which will be the ultimate test of her ability and whether all is well, but she looks like the best yet. You can use a little bit of rest."

"Thank you, Director," Murakami said and loosened her tense shoulders a bit. "I apologize for interrupting your talk with CV03." She stepped back a bit.

"No problem, Yukari," Kouki replied. "I understand how you feel." He turned back to Luka now. "I assume your memory banks have your purpose and design information preloaded as they should?"

"Yes, Master. Should I repeat it?" Luka responded. The phrases weren't her own, they were urged for her to say by some force she couldn't grasp.

"Please do," Kouki said, placing a hand on his chin and looking attentively at Luka.

"I am Vocal Android CV03, character name Megurine Luka," she began. "My purpose is to be a contracted singer underneath the permission and orders of Crypton Android Director Minami Kouki, also known as Master. My date of activation is January 30, 2029. I am 167 centimeters in height. My designed virtual age is twenty."

"That's enough, Luka," Kouki interrupted. "You've sufficiently proven your innate knowledge for me." The man stood and began to brush himself off. He took a small device out of his pocket, and tapped a number of times on its screen. He then held it to his ear. "Director Minami here. I want to clear everyone out of the halls. Yes, it's important. No, it's not mandatory. Yes. No unnecessary traffic. Clear them out too. I'm touring CV03, she'll meet them later anyway. That's all. Minami out." He returned the device to his pocket, and walked over to the door, opening it. "Ladies first," he said, gesturing out for the two women to leave.

"Thank you, Master," Luka said as she exited the room, followed by Doctor Murakami. Kouki shut the door behind him as he exited. He took his identification card out of his pocket, and scanned it, locking the door.

"I'll let the doctor decide where to start this time around," Minami said. "Whether we head further down into my turf, or towards hers."

"How about we do your end first," Murakami suggested. "That way, when we get back to my end, I can leave to my own office."

"Oh, ever the practical one, aren't you?" Kouki joked with a laugh. "Very well then. I'll lead." He stepped in front of the women, and beckoned forward. "This would be the administrative halls, Luka. Chances are you won't need to come here very often, except to meet with me, and I'm on the very edge. You are free to explore them on your own time, so I won't turn down that way. The elevators off of this floor are also down there, but chances are you really won't need to use them. So come this way, this is the Vocal Android area." Kouki motioned down towards the halls that Luka and the doctor had used to come here.

The group moved down to where the cafeteria branched off. "This would be the cafeteria," Kouki said, and pointed towards it. "They will provide you with a large variety of meals for all three times per day, all covered by us. I can tell you from personal experience, it's very good. Now, as an android, you don't necessarily need food, but your body has efficient tools for converting it to energy, allowing you to recharge your body without needing the plug-in, though I've heard from CV01 and CV02 that it can be somewhat uncomfortable, so it's probably preferable."

The three continued back down that hall until reaching the lounge area. "This would be the common lounge," Kouki said. A large room spread out from the hall, with no walls to separate it. The room had the same beige walls and dark blue carpeting as the rest of the hall, but Luka felt like this place was more inviting somehow. Several large, leather couches were gathered around the room, around a large wooden coffee table. A large TV screen sat in the corner, with a couple of entertainment consoles attached to it. "This is the usual home of your fellow androids, since it is a common area between both the cafeteria and the residences. Chances are, after you meet them, you can talk and interact with them freely here. There's also unlimited access to television, and games to play. Between here and your room, when you're off work, you should never be bored. Speaking of which, we're headed in the direction of the residences now."

Kouki continued through the lounge, and made the group's way to an intersection of three halls. "But first, on the way is the recording studios. These will be your home during working hours, when you have contracts to fulfill." Kouki opened a thick door. "As you can see, they're perfectly state-of-the-art in every way, fully soundproofed and completely ready for you and the rest of the androids to use as they need." Kouki closed the door. "As with any room you will need to use, they will often be locked by default. I'm not actually sure how this one is open." He brought out his ID card and scanned it in a card reader underneath a sign noting "Recording Studio 2". A red light lit. "Now it isn't. The nice thing, however, is that you have an RFID chip in your hand, which will automatically unlock a certain subset of doors when you place your hand on the handle. Now, to the important part!"

"By the way, Director?" Murakami interrupted, taking a look at a watch on her wrist. "It's nearly closing time. How much longer might this take?"

"Don't worry about it, Yukari," Kouki replied. "It'll take as long as it needs to take, no more, no less. But we've only really got the residence area and your turf left to tour, so it shouldn't be too much longer. Now then, the most important part of our tour today, your residence."

The director continued down the hall closest to the studio, yet another relatively featureless beige corridor with dark carpeting, this time with only one side filled with doors. The group passed by several doors — "CRV1 - 'Meiko' - Locked" "CRV2 - 'Kaito' - Locked" "CV01 - 'Hatsune Miku' - Unlocked" "CV02a - 'Kagamine Rin' - Locked" "CV02b - 'Kagamine Len' - Unlocked" "CV03 - 'Megurine Luka' - Locked".

"And these would be the residences," the Director said. "You and your fellow androids will sleep here and you are free to use these rooms whenever you like. How about you try and open your door?"

"I can try it," Luka said. She stretched her arm out towards the handle. As her hand touched it, the "Locked" on the sign instantly changed to "Unlocked". She slowly pushed the door open, revealing a large gray room. A large bed, outfitted with sheets and pillows sat in the back corner. Beside it was a small bedstand, with a small lamp and alarm clock on it. Along the back wall was a large dresser/bookcase combination, with a number of items on its shelves. In the right back corner, a door led to a small bathroom. Towards the front, a TV was attached to the opposite wall at the foot of the bed, and a small table with chairs sat in the front right. Along the right wall was a small desk, with a desktop computer lying on top of it.

"Nice and homey, right?" her Master commented. "It's your room, feel free to use it in whatever fashion you'd like. You can request or order decorations, whatever you'd like. You're paid well for your job, considering we cover all living expenses. You're also free to allow or disallow visitors. As you likely saw, Miku and Len were allowing visitors. Your door stays unlocked by default, meaning to actually have to disallow when you want. All you have to do, though, is put your hand on the doorknob for five seconds, at which point the door will lock. After that, it's as simple as unlocking to re-allow or exit. Go ahead and try."

"Yes, Master," Luka said, and closed her room behind the three of them. She let her hand continue to hold onto the handle for a few seconds, at which point a loud click sounded and a light above the handle turned red.

"See, easy, isn't it?" Kouki said. "Now then, onto the next and final part of the tour. You can open the door up and we'll continue." Luka unlocked and opened the door without a word. The three proceeded out into the hall. "Now, this way." The master walked down to the end of the hall, just past Luka's room, and another vacant room next to it. He turned right, facing the sterile lab hall.

"This would be my territory, then," Murakami spoke up. "Straight ahead in the corner is my office. For the next few weeks, while I draw up plans and get started on proposals and concepts for CV04, I'll be occupying that room for most of working hours. If you have an issue, just knock on the door. If I'm not there, chances are I will be soon enough."

"Just a note, Luka," the director interrupted. "If you have mechanical or other issues you think are resulting from your android body, then Yukari is the person to go to. However, for pretty much anything else, I am your Master, and I like to think I am good at it. I should be able to help you should you have an issue with your fellow androids, or if there's any other sort of problem."

"I hate to admit it," Murakami said with a sigh, "but your master is right. While we are of relatively equal status business-wise, as Director and Master of the androids, Minami holds much more power when it comes to that sort of problem. _But_, if you have even the slightest problem with yourself, I didn't spend a year building you for nothing. I know basically everything there is to know."

"I'll remember that," Luka said.

"Excellent," Murakami said. "Now, to your right is the lab hall. I won't bother going down the entire length, because there's not much to see on this side of the labs, but in order from closest to farthest, there's the Assembly Lab, where you were assembled and activated, then the Microelectronics Lab, where we have nanometer-level wafer processing to create the microchips within your body. Just after that is the machine shop, where not only do we have the tools to build the skeleton and framework for your and other android bodies, but also tools to equip them with facsimile skin and other necessities. And finally is the Module Lab, where the microchips are combined with custom produced boards to form modules and cores such as your personality core and thought modules." The doctor turned around towards the group, and pointed towards them. "That way is offices for the android assembly staff, as well as a couple minor labs for less crucial components. Everything crucial, though, is built in one of those labs I just mentioned."

"Well then," Kouki said, stretching his arms. "That's the end of our tour. What's the time, Yukari?"

"Nearly 8 PM," Murakami replied, looking at her watch. "Just past closing time."

"Really now?" Kouki said. "We must have taken longer than I wanted to. Oh well. We can pick up tomorrow."

"We got her activated late in the day," Murakami commented.

"True, true," Kouki noted. "Luka, you're released for now. I do suggest that you return to your room and get some rest, though. Being your first day so far, you must be rather confused and stressed. Some rest should help that out."

"Yes, Master," Luka replied. "I have been feeling a bit tired out. That sounds like a good idea." Luka turned back towards the residence hall and began walking.

"Well, it's quitting time, isn't it, Yukari?" Kouki said. "'Night, I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Just a moment, Kouki," Murakami said.

"Ooh, you broke out the first name," Kouki said. "This must be important."

"You could say that," the doctor said. "Could we meet in my office? I want this to be private."

"Let's not make this take too long, that's all I ask, Murakami," Kouki said. "I'll hear you out, though."

"Good," Murakami said flatly. She turned around and swiped a key card next to the door to her office, and opened it. "You first." Kouki entered the room and sat down at a chair in front of the desk.

Murakami's office was just as large as Kouki's, if not larger. She too had bookcases along her walls, full to the brim with books on robotics and computer science. At least one carried Murakami's own name. A similarly large wooden desk sat at the far end, but unlike the neatness of Kouki's, hers was absolutely covered in papers and notes. A computer could barely be made out underneath the detritus. Before the desk sat Kouki, in one of two small chairs that faced the desk. And along the wall beside her desk, large portraits of five androids hung, beside an empty frame. Meanwhile, Kouki had the device up to his ear again.

"It's quitting time, I'm lifting the restriction. Yes. That is all. Minami out," he said as Murakami came around and sat down at her desk. He put his device back into his pocket. "So what's this about?"

"You should know well what this is about, Kouki," Murakami said. "You were meeting privately with one of my engineers a couple days ago."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Yukari," Kouki replied.

"Stop feigning ignorance," Murakami said plainly, hitting the desk with a clenched hand. "You met with Module Engineer Shirogane Tsubasa two days ago, and discussed the creation of a new module for your control device. Unless Shirogane was lying to me when she told me, but I would rather not believe that one of my top engineers would openly lie to me."

"Ah, yes," Kouki said, unable to hold up his charade any longer. "That might have been the case."

"Usually I wouldn't get upset about something like this," the doctor continued, falling back into her chair. "But not only did you skip my authority to try and implement something like this, you also instructed Shirogane not to tell me the function of that module, which she is unfortunately obeying. In case you don't remember, Kouki, Shirogane is part of _my_ science team. 'Vocal Android Director' may be your title, Kouki, but you have no authority over the development half of things."

"Don't worry, Yukari," Kouki said. "I made sure to instruct Shirogane only to work on my request if she didn't have any work from you to work on. So I won't be interfering in your authority to get work done on projects."

"That's not the problem here," Murakami said, sitting back up, her tone getting more and more irate. "You keep dodging the main question at hand. It's not the fact that you're doing it that's getting on my nerves. If you had asked me directly, I may have approved it. It's the fact that you skipped my authority in attempting to do it, and the fact that you're not telling me what it's for that's bothering me."

"Then don't let it bother you, Yukari," Kouki said, with a grin on his face. "I'm not quite willing to say anything at this point. It's happening. The work order has been filed, and I don't see it being canceled, seeing as you need my permission now. It's an emergency module, that's all I'm willing to say. I shouldn't need it at all, but I want to have it in case of emergencies." The doctor sighed.

"Fine. I'm obviously not getting anything out of you," Murakami said. "I'll take that explanation for now. I just don't want my hard work getting damaged."

"No worries, Yukari," Kouki said. "I promise."

"I hope you're not lying, Kouki," Murakami said, "for both our sakes. That's all I wanted. Get out of here."

"I'll be doing just that, then," Kouki said, stood, and left.

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 1 - Tour_

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	3. Chapter 2 - Beginnings

・ Author's Notes ・

Hey there again! Another weekly update for you all, I hope that I can keep these coming for the foreseeable future. Don't have much to say up here, so I'll let the chapter speak for itself. Ta-ta!

・ ・ ・

"_Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Beep-beep!_" sounded an alarm from beside Luka's head. The android woman slowly began to wake from her rest. She was nestled deep within the sheets of her bed, robed in pink pajamas that had been provided for her in the dresser. She blinked a few times, attempting to focus on the morning of the second day of her life. The woman fumbled her arm around on the table for a couple of seconds, before successfully disabling the alarm's noises. She tossed the sheets off of her body, and stood up alongside her bed. Looking around, she noticed a blinking notification light coming from the computer in the corner of her room. She walked over to it, and lightly moved the mouse, making its screen flash to life.

"One new message - Director Minami Kouki," the screen displayed. Luka opened the notification, displaying a message from her master. "Luka - This being your first morning after activation, I have some things to take care of before you can be let free to your own devices. Instead of proceeding to the cafeteria for breakfast, I'll have something prepared for you in my office. Don't worry, I got suggestions from Yukari for what you might like. You don't need to wear the fancy outfit today either, if you don't want to. Promotional photo shoots will take place later, you'll only need it then. That's all for this morning's assignments. Director Minami out," said the message.

Luka decided it wouldn't be worth the trouble to dress up in the complicated costume from the previous evening. Instead, the woman went into the attached bathroom and showered, then scoured her dresser for an outfit. She chose a casual outfit of a long-sleeved black t-shirt and simple blue jeans. She slipped on a pair of pink indoor shoes with 03 in red emblazoned in small print upon the front, a special pair made just for her. She didn't think everything needed to be in the same pink as her hair, but apparently the people who prepared her room thought differently.

Luka unlocked and opened her door, and peered around the hall for a few seconds. She saw green unlocked lights from several of the other androids' rooms, but no people, human or otherwise, were in that hall. Luka guessed that most of the others were either still in their rooms preparing for the morning's activities, or already in the cafeteria having breakfast. She didn't let that stop her, though, and locked her door. She proceeded onward, and went down to the end of the hall towards the studios. She turned right, headed towards the lounge, cafeteria, and Kouki's office at the corridor's end. She passed through the lounge, where the scarfed man from earlier was sitting comfortably next to the brown-haired woman who had confronted the boy and girl the previous evening. Luka didn't want to keep her master waiting, though, and continued onward. She stopped in front of the large door, and knocked lightly.

"Who is it?" came a familiar voice from the other side.

"It's Luka," Luka said.

"Ah, come in!" the voice said, brightening at the mention of the name. Luka opened the door, and entered the room, closing it behind her. Kouki sat at his desk, leaning back in his chair. In front of the guest chair was a small table, on top of which was a plate, fully stocked with food. There was pancakes, bacon, and potatoes, a standard Western breakfast. "This would be for you," Kouki said, pointing to it. "I've already eaten. Take your time, I'll explain what you'll be doing today."

"Thank you for the food," Luka said politely, before sitting down and attending to the plate.

"It's no problem," Kouki said. "Now then, on to today's business. There wasn't enough time last night after the tour for us to do tests and demos of your singing ability before closing time, so I intend on correcting that as soon as possible. As much as I'm confident in Yukari's team and their abilities, it comes down to a field test before I can be absolutely sure of anything. That said, though, I don't want to spend too much time on tests. I'd rather have you active and fulfilling contracts as soon as possible, and the more time we spend making sure you're ready is all the less time we have to actually fulfill contracts." Luka paused for just a moment from decimating the contents of the plate, and looked up.

"Does that mean you'll have me singing proper jobs by today?" she asked.

"With any luck, yes," Kouki replied. "Though that probably won't be until after lunch break. And I'm not sure how many are there are queued up for you yet. Our contract prices are expensive, and I know many of our clients aren't willing to spend their money on an unproven singer yet. But don't worry about that, we'll have you working soon enough." This answer satisfied Luka enough, and she returned to the brutal destruction of her breakfast. "Now then, back to the itinerary for today. I plan on doing some field tests with you in Studio 2 and then bringing you out and to the lounge where we'll finally get you acquainted with your fellow androids. After that, we'll break for lunch, and I'll leave you alone to mingle. After that, I'll release you with your queued contracts and I'll let Miku, CV01, help train you."

"Why not do it personally?" Luka asked. "Seems kinda silly to distract one of the others to help train me."

"I need to take off the training wheels eventually, Luka," Kouki said. "I can't just manage you, I've got Meiko, Kaito, Miku, Rin, and Len to take care of, alongside yourself. The faster I can get you independent, the easier it makes my job. Miku's very good at what she does, and I trust she'll have you better prepared than I could ever make you. Anyway, that's all I'll have for you on your first day."

"I suppose that makes sense," Luka said. Her thoughts begged to differ. She wasn't sure it was safe yet to release her from the training wheels. She wasn't anywhere near positive in what she was doing, and was only following what her mind told her was correct. And even those decisions, Luka was unsure of. So far, this man, her master, was calling the shots. And while it worried her somewhat, she felt comfortable simply falling in line. And while some part of freedom appealed to her, she wasn't sure whether she was ready to grasp it just yet.

"And after that, we'll probably do the promotional photo shoot tomorrow," Kouki said, rousing Luka from her thoughts. "I plan on getting that done relatively early tomorrow, so I can release you again at lunch, and so you don't have to wear yesterday's outfit for too long. I can't know for sure, but that doesn't look super comfortable to wear for long periods of time."

"Your first mistake was making the chest thing out of real brass," Luka commented. "It's heavy…"

"Did they really go for making it out of real brass? Jeez," her master replied. "I thought the plan was aluminum and then brass plated… Oh well. I won't force you to wear it very long." While the discussion came to a close, Luka had finished the contents of her plate. "It seems like we should be ready to go now and run those field tests, huh? Just leave it there, I'll take care of it afterward." Kouki stood from his seat at the desk, and came around to the door. Luka stood up and followed behind. "Here, this way. I'm sure you remember where it is from yesterday."

The master opened the door, and beckoned for Luka to leave first. He came around and locked the door, much like last time. He came back around Luka, and began to lead down the hall. The pair passed by the lounge again, now with a tired-looking teal-haired girl sprawled across the entirety of one of the couches. Luka wanted to stop, to try and get some interaction away from the master and get some chances for herself, but remembered the master's instructions. She would meet her later; the tattoo of "01" identified her as a fellow android. Instead, Luka made her way with the master to the second recording studio, the one that she had been led to the previous night.

The master swiped his card in the reader, and pulled open the door as soon as the light flashed to the unlocked position. "Well, here we are. Enter, please." She entered the room, which had thick soundproofed walls on all sides. There was a second booth self-contained in the studio, visible from a large glass wall and a nearby door. The second room was relatively featureless, with amplifiers, microphones, and a set of stools for contained artists, and the same thick, soundproofed walls as the outer half. The side in which they stood, however, had a set of chairs in front of a microphone and a mixing board that Luka couldn't even begin to comprehend. A set of large, white cone speakers sat on the mixing bench, excellently suited for mixing the perfect sound. A computer sat on top as well, displaying some piece of music software that Luka wasn't familiar with.

"Should I go over to the other side?" Luka asked, cautiously trying to take the lead.

"Yes, please," Kouki replied. "Your job is almost entirely contained on the opposite side. Usually we have a staff member here on hand to handle this side, but he's currently dismissed so that I can handle this to my liking. So don't worry about needing to needing to handle both sides of the room in order to record later." Luka noticed a large device in Kouki's hand as she turned towards the side booth, and her eyes were drawn to it.

"What's that you're holding, Master?" Luka asked, curious.

"Ah, this?" Kouki responded, and held up the device. It was a large black tablet, with a small cable coming out of one side, and a variety of expansion ports on the rim. "This would be my android control device. Don't worry, I'm not gonna possess you or anything. This'll just let me monitor your vocal characteristics more closely than by ear. As a human, I don't have incredible hearing like you androids do. Anyways, off to the other side. I'll relay using the microphone what I want you to do."

"Yes sir," Luka said, and made her way to the booth on the other side, closing the door behind her, making a perfectly soundproof seal. Now inside the booth, Luka had a chance to look around some more. The walls were the same soundproofed design as the other side, and above the glass window to the other side was a large monitor, currently displaying sheet music, of a song apparently titled "Afternoon Sunshine". Luka sat down on the stool in the center of the room and faced the microphone, mind racing over whether she could succeed at the singing she was about to be perform.

"Alright there Luka, we're about ready to get started," came a voice over a small PA speaker above her head. Through the window, Luka could see Kouki speaking into the microphone on the other side. "Can you see the monitor above you?"

"Yes, sir," Luka said. "It has sheet music on it, a song by the name of 'Afternoon Sunshine'. Is this what I'll be singing for my test run?"

"That would be the case," Kouki said. "You're getting pretty observant. This will be a test of your singing ability, to make sure you're on key, can read music, and can read, understand, and sing in both Japanese and English. You're our first who can do that, so if you perform admirably today, you'll be very special for us."

"I see," Luka said.

"Now then, there should be a pair of headphones hanging off of that stool," Kouki pointed out. "Put them on and we'll get started for real." She put on the headphones, and Kouki flipped a switch on the mixing board. "Alright then, you should be able to hear me over those."

"I can," she said. "Much clearer too."

"It better be," Kouki said. "That's a cheap speaker above, but those are expensive headphones. Anyway, in just a second, you'll begin to hear music playing on those headphones, and a marker on the sheet music above that shows your vocal part. Sing along to the best of your ability. This is the first, the dry run. I won't stop you until the end, I'll just be monitoring the variables on the control device. Speaking of which, there's a cable running along the ground there, and ends near that stool. Pull it up and plug it in to the port on your neck."

"This?" Luka said and held up a cable with an odd attachment on the end. She held it near the left side of her neck, and a small slot opened predictively for her input. She inserted it carefully.

"That would be the one," Kouki said. "You're now connected to my control device." He held up the device that now had a cable running out of it, plugged into the mixing panel. A number of lights blinked on it, and the screen displayed an output of several complicated graphs and numbers. "Now don't worry about this, just sing normally. Do your best, and I'm sure it will work out. Now, three, two… one… begin."

Luka traced the moving bar with her eyes as the song began to play in her ears. She concentrated all of her power on the scrolling music, and braced herself for her role approaching. When the marker on the music hit the first bar of vocals, Luka sang. Luka sang with all of her might, using her ability to read the music to hit every note, pitch-perfect. She lost herself in the music, the only thing she could be absolutely sure of at the moment. Even as the lyrics switched from her normal Japanese tongue into English, and back again, she missed nothing. As the song closed, Luka ended her vocal, and slowly returned to reality.

"Amazing, amazing!" Kouki said through the microphone. "You've exceeded my expectations for the dry run. Now then, I'm going to change some of the parameters on the control device. Sit tight, it might feel a bit weird, but this will tune you to the absolute maximum of your possible performance."

"I understand," Luka said. She began to feel her neck tighten and loosen with the control of the master on the other side. The feeling was incredibly odd to Luka. It was uncomfortable, but she found it extremely difficult to even think against it, much less disagree with it. Instead, she just let it happen.

"Now then, we'll begin the next tests," Kouki said. "Sing the same way as last time, that was excellent. If all goes well, I won't have many more changes to make!" Kouki reset the music at the computer, and queued up the song to play yet again. Luka braced herself and sung along as the music played, yet again.

The routine continued on like that for some time. Each time, Luka sang to the best of her ability, and Kouki examined the results. Kouki changed a few variables using his control device, and then sent Luka on yet another round of singing. When all was said and done, Luka had to have sung the same song well over ten times.

"I think we're finally at a place that I can call perfect," Kouki said, wiping off his brow. "Go ahead and disconnect the cable from your neck, you can come back over here." Luka sighed in relief, and unplugged the cable from her neck, leaving her android nature hidden yet again. It was over, for now at least. Luka stood from the stool, letting her unused legs adjust back to being used. She walked back over to the side with Kouki.

"So does that mean that we're at the end of testing?" Luka asked.

"Not entirely," Kouki said. "But pretty much. I'll be keeping an eye on your results for a while now, but formally, the tests are over."

"Does that mean that we'll be going to meet the others soon, then?" Luka asked as well.

"Soon enough, soon enough," Kouki said. "I need to wrap this up for release, set it free to the real music people above, so we have something to show the cautious adopters." Her master worked on the computer for just a few more moments, in that music software Luka couldn't decode. "Alright! We're done here," he said, after finishing. "Now then, I'm guessing you're rather excited to meet your fellow androids, huh?"

"I have been looking forward to it," Luka said. She thought that was a bit of an understatement, though.

"Alright then!" Kouki said, and pulled the device from his pocket yet again. "Gather up the androids for me, in the common lounge," he said, after tapping on the screen and pulling the device to his ear. "This isn't formal or anything, just gather them. Director Minami out." He stowed the device back away, and disconnected his control device from the mixing panel. "Now, shall we go and meet them?"

Kouki opened the door and allowed Luka to exit, then exited himself and locked the door. He took the lead, bringing Luka back to the common lounge that they had passed through many times before. This time, instead of being in a state of barely-controlled chaos like before, there were several people standing in a line, all facing towards Luka and Kouki.

"Say hello to the Crypton Vocal Android Series, Luka," Kouki said, and pointed towards the line. "These will be your compatriots in singing, and you'll be working with them and being in their company from now onward. I'll let them introduce themselves." The first to speak was the short brown-haired woman.

"Hello, I'm CRV1, Meiko. It's nice to meet you," the woman said. She was tall, taller than any of the other girls there, and had brown eyes the same color as her hair. She wore a short, red top, leaving much of her midriff visible, and a short red skirt with bicycle shorts underneath. The next to speak was the scarfed man.

"Hi, I'm CRV2, Kaito. It's nice to meet you!" he said. He was the tallest person in the line, but that likely owed to being the only adult male. He wore a long, blue scarf, a long-sleeved black shirt, and brown pants. His most striking feature was his bright blue hair, which matched with his solid blue eyes. Next was the pigtailed teal-haired girl.

"Hi! I'm CV01, Hatsune Miku! Nice to meet you!" she said. She was shorter than both Kaito and Meiko, but taller than the next girl in line. Her hair was incredibly long, reaching nearly down to her ankles, in a bright shade of teal. Her eyes were a similar color, that seemed to catch Luka's view. She wore a casual outfit of a blue baby-doll T-shirt, black pleated skirt, and thigh-high stockings, leaving only the smallest patch of skin between the top of the stockings and her skirt. The next to speak was the blond-haired girl.

"Hey there, I'm CV02a, Kagamine Rin! Nice to meet you," she said. She had short, blond hair, with a large white hair band with a similar ribbon coming off of it. She had bright blue eyes, and wore a similar casual outfit to Miku. She wore a white T-shirt, and a black skirt, but had no special leg-wear. Next, and last, was a similar looking boy.

"I'm CV02b, Kagamine Len. I'm Rin's brother, it's nice to meet you," he said. He had short blond hair like Rin, and nearly identical blue eyes. He wore a simple white T-shirt, along with a pair of blue jeans. With this, the introductions were over.

"I suppose I should introduce myself, now that you've all done it," Luka said. "I'm CV03, Megurine Luka. It's nice to meet you, and I look forward to working with you all." She gave a slight bow, and accepted this as her world.

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 2 - Beginnings_

As always, for instant updates and commentary, follow me on Tumblr, the link is available in my profile.


	4. Chapter 3 - Learning

・ Author's Notes ・

Well then, another week, another update. Nothing special so far… I'll let the chapter speak for itself again, I don't need to speak for it! Onward!

・ ・ ・

"Well, Luka," Kouki said, "these are your fellow androids. It's about nearly 1PM right now, since we got off to a bit of a late start this morning. Not like that's a big deal. I'll release all of you to mingle amongst yourselves for lunch break right now. As for Meiko, Kaito, Rin and Len, Studio 2 will be open after lunch break so you can catch up on contracts. As for Miku and Luka, you'll be able to use Studio 1 after lunch. I've cleared out the usual mixer from Studio 1, so Miku, remember what I taught you a few days ago, since you'll be handling the mixing side of the studio."

"Yes, Master," Miku said, and made a slight bow. "I won't touch anything unless necessary, and I'll be sure to follow all of the instructions you gave me."

"Good," Kouki said. "With that said, it's time I got going. The higher-ups want me to meet with them to discuss the completion of Luka and her tests. I probably won't be back until much later, so make sure to do your best without me. Later!" Kouki made a slight bow of his own, and then moved past the androids and into the hall past, presumably making his way to the elevators he had mentioned previously. With Kouki now gone, several of the other androids breathed a sigh of relief. Miku walked over to Luka's side.

"It's really nice to meet you, Luka!" Miku said, giving Luka a bright upward smile. Despite having been activated for much longer, Miku was obviously made to be younger in appearance. She stood a clear several inches shorter than her newly-activated compatriot.

"Oh, yes… Nice to meet you too, Miku," Luka said, trying to give a smile. To be honest, she wasn't exactly sure what she was doing. Her memories had been prepared with everything she needed to know about singing, emotion, and such. But they had nothing on simple interpersonal interaction. Apparently, that was an afterthought.

"C'mon, this way," Miku said, and pointed towards the hall with the cafeteria, where the others had already begun to head. "I'll teach you everything you need to know about getting your food!" She grabbed Luka's hand without an afterthought, and started to pull the woman down the hall. Luka followed along, concluding that this was probably the best course of action to take, when an energetic girl grabs your arm and tries to take you somewhere.

Miku continued to hold Luka's hand and brought her into the cafeteria. It was a expansive, open room, with a large number of tables set up for use. Several of them were already occupied by scientists, while many others remained empty. Luka could see Murakami sitting at one of the tables in the corner of the room, accompanied by a white-haired woman who was facing away from Luka. Murakami gave a slight nod as she noticed Luka looking in her direction. Luka nodded back and then returned her gaze to Miku.

"You go in through here," Miku said, and pointed to a short line leading into a second room. She pulled on Luka's hand yet again, bringing them to the end of the line. Miku led the woman through the line, constantly offering suggestions and teaching Luka the procedures of the Crypton cafeteria line. _From one master to another, _Luka thought. _At least this one is cute, I suppose. Wait, what am I thinking? _The girl was undeniably cute. The pair exited the line with fully stocked food trays, and Luka paused as they reentered the cafeteria.

"So where do we sit?" Luka asked. "Is there any specific place?"

"Nope," Miku said. "C'mon, I usually sit over here. Follow me." Luka decided to follow the girl, who had no intent of allowing Luka not to follow. The blond-haired twins were already occupying two of the seats, but there was room enough for teal-haired girl and her companion. They ended up sitting across from each other, at a long rectangular table. Next to them were the twins, also sitting across from one another, and beside them, the eldest pair.

"Alright, let's eat!" Rin said as the final pair sat down at the table. The others, except Kaito, who had already begun, nodded and started to work on the trays in front of them.

"Is that a usual occurrence here?" Luka asked Miku.

"Pretty much," Miku answered. "Rin doesn't like to start unless everyone's here. We all sorta just go along with it. A little bit of waiting doesn't hurt, our lunch break's long anyway." Miku smiled, and Luka found the expression just a bit infectious as she too turned to her tray. Luka thought she might be able to get used to this kind of life.

"So what are we going to do after this?" Luka asked. She figured the other girl might know more, seeing as she would be the guide…

"That's… A… Secret," Miku said with a wink. "No really, though, I'll be training you on how the real contracting stuff goes. It's not that hard, I bet you'll get it in no time. If there are enough jobs to do, we'll stick around there until dinner break, and then we're done for the day. I usually go and hang out in the lounge for a bit, or go back to my room. It's up to you what you do, though!"

"I don't know yet, honestly," Luka said. "I figure we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So you must know your way around things if Master trusts you enough to operate the other half while you train me."

"Kinda sorta," Miku said. "I'm not an expert yet, not at all, but I think I should be able to do what we need today… I hope… Don't worry, though, I think I got this." Her smile became a little unsteady.

"I have faith in you, at least," Luka said. "You have been doing this a lot longer than I have, after all!"

"Aww, thanks," Miku said. "I'll try my best not to disappoint you…" She turned away, hiding her blushing face. After the heat on her face dissipated a little, she turned back to Luka. "So Luka, how has your first couple of days been so far?"

"It's tough to say," Luka said. "Confusing, if I had to put it into one word. It's taking me some time to try and figure out exactly what I'm doing." She sighed. "It's going to take some getting used to, really. Everything's coming at me so fast, it's hard to try and pick what to focus on. Not to mention, the things that aren't coming at me straight on are buried within my memory, and I can't even begin to find where to start on those. It's like… I know what I'm thinking right now. I can easily visualize and remember things from the past that I've actually properly experienced. But those 'memories', aren't quite the same. It's like somebody inserted text directly into my brain, despite it not working quite that way. Even when I've read text, it shows up in memory as an image, not as raw words. These… these are just raw words. It's entirely different."

"Oh yeah, I remember back when I was going through that," Miku said. "Don't sweat it, Luka. As long as you just keep doing what you know, and stick with me, and I promise it'll get better! It's only been a couple of days, you only really know Master and the doctor… But don't worry, you've already got a friend, me."

"Thank you," Luka said, and returned the smile perpetually on Miku's face. She wasn't exactly sure what to think of these developments. On one hand, she felt warm inside, satisfied and pleasant. But on the other hand, she felt something lacking still… She dismissed those thoughts, though, and continued both her lunch and her discussion with Miku. "It's good to know I'm not alone."

"Of course!" Miku responded. "Don't ever worry about that, Luka, we're all here for you!"

"Thank you, again," Luka said. "There must be something else to talk about, though. It feels a little awkward when we're just talking about me."

"Well, you're the new girl," Miku said. "Of course we want to talk to and about you… But it's alright. Is there anything you want to know about me?"

"Well…" Luka began. "I don't know if there's anything I want to know in particular, really. I just want to know… about you. I don't know exactly how to say it."

"Just… about me, huh?" Miku asked in response. She tilted her head, thinking. "Well, you know my name and what I look like, obviously. Um… My favorite color is pink, I really like singing, so I enjoy my job… I like watching anime and reading manga on my free time…" She paused for a moment. "Y'know, you never realize how hard of of a question that is until you get asked it! I dunno what else to say…"

"That's alright," Luka said. "I don't think either of us want to talk about ourselves much…" By this point, despite all the talking, the pair was basically done with their meals. Miku stood from the table with her tray.

"C'mon, I'll show you where to get rid of your tray," Miku said to Luka. She stood and followed the girl, who quickly showed her and taught her the disposal procedure. "Alright! C'mon Luka, now that we're done, we should head on over to the recording studio."

"You lead, then," Luka said. Miku found no problem in this suggestion, and led Luka out of the cafeteria. The pair crossed through the lounge yet again, this time empty as the others still worked on finishing their meals. Miku led her down and to the door marked "Recording Studio 1". Miku placed her hand on the handle, and it unlocked instantly. She opened the door, and motioned for Luka to enter. She complied, and entered into the first studio.

The room was slightly larger than the other studio, on both sides. The room's content was similar to its counterpart, with a mixing board, computer, speakers, microphone, all of the typical arrangements of a recording studio of Crypton's caliber. Unlike the other, however, a door led off to another attached room, one labeled "Instrument and Equipment Storage". Miku entered, and closed the door behind the two of them.

"Alright Luka!" Miku said enthusiastically. "You can go over to the booth side, I'll handle it all over here." She sat down at the mixing bench, and took control of the bench as if she was naturally comfortable with the setup.

"Alright," Luka said. She crossed over to the heavily soundproofed booth on the other side of the room, and sat down at the stool like she had the last time.

"Let's get started, then!" Miku said over the PA speaker. "On a table behind you is a pair of headphones and a tablet, go grab those."

"Understood," Luka said, and turned behind her. Sure enough, there was a pair of headphones much like the ones in the other room, and an electronic tablet like the one Kouki was using in the other studio. Unlike the control device, though, this one seemed positively normal. No special extensions split off from it.

"Go ahead and turn it on, you do your contracts with it," Miku said. Luka complied, somehow knowing the interface instinctively. It had to be another piece of instilled knowledge from her memory banks. As it booted, it displayed a menu, featuring a long list of songs. Each one had a creator's name, a title, a priority number, a genre, and a length labeled.

"Is this the list of contract songs?" Luka asked.

"Yep," Miku said. "Each one on there is to be done by you sometime. You should do the ones with the highest priority number first. Those ones might have been waiting a while, or sometimes the artist paid more to get it done faster. If you've got a bunch of stuff at the same number, do it whatever way you want, if you like the genre, long or short songs, whatever. So go ahead, pick one!" Luka scanned the list for a moment, then tapped on the title of a song. The song expanded to fill the entire screen, displaying sheet music.

"Was that right?" Luka asked, unsure, needing guidance.

"Yep, perfect," Miku said. "Now you have a song! In front of you is the sheet music for that song, and it has everything you need to know. If you look, some notes have accents on them, which if you look back to your memory, you'll know what to do. Besides that, there's also markers at the beginnings of parts, telling you what kind of emotion to sing with."

"Okay, I think I understand…" Luka said. "So what do I do when I'm ready to do it?"

"Up in the top corner, there's a play button," Miku said. "All you have to do is press that, and you're ready to go! Just take a look through it first, and make sure you know what's coming. We only wanna have to do this once, so we can do more."

"Got it," Luka said, and scanned through the document displayed before her on the screen. She made sure not to skip a thing, a note accent, or an emotional directive placed somewhere along the line. When she was ready, she took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's do this." She pressed the play button on the top corner, and braced herself.

"Do your best!" Miku cheered, before the music began to play. She pressed a button on the panel, and music began to play in Luka's ears. She could trace the moving bar of the music, and followed it along until her part slowly approached. When her part actually appeared, she did the only thing she really knew how to do: sing. She couldn't guarantee she was doing anything right, but this, unlike much else, felt natural to her at the very least. She followed through the song as it played, trying her best to accent every note as the creator had planned it, not wanting to either disappoint or need to try again. She harnessed everything she could at the emotional directives, trying to sound her absolute best. When the song ended, she let out a sigh of relief.

"This is a bit more tiring than just being let free to do whatever," Luka said. "With this, there's the constant pressure of messing up at some point."

"Don't worry about it, Luka," Miku said over the microphone. "You did great! I didn't notice a single problem. And that's all there is to it, at least the first part. I have to do some audio magic at the end, but that's over here on this side. You're all done, and you can go on and get another song." Luka turned back down to the tablet and scoured the list for another song, while Miku did something at the computer on the other side. Luka found the next one, and waited for Miku to give her an okay signal. "Alright! I think that's all done. Now, for the next one…"

And so on the process went. For quite some time, Luka would choose a song from the list that was next, and sang it according to the instructions. Miku would do what needs to be done, while praising Luka along the way, and then submit the song as complete back to the one who requested it, where they could do with the audio what they wanted. The girls repeated their duty, until the list of songs was exhausted. There wasn't anything else to do in the recording booth, so Luka crossed back into the other side. She sat at a bench behind Miku's mixing table as she finished the final touches on the last song.

"So was everything good?" Luka asked.

"Definitely," Miku said. "You have such a nice voice, I'm sure they'll all be really happy to get their tracks."

"That's good…" Luka said. "So what do we do now that we're done?"

"There's a little time left, though I'd usually just go back and start my time off a little early," Miku said. "Master wanted us to stay here until he got a chance to check in on us, though. So we're kinda stuck here for now."

"Fun," Luka said, more than just a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Miku leaned back in her chair, and began to accidentally turn up a slider with her elbow. "Miku, you might want to-"

"I might want to what?" Miku asked with a yawn, as a large bang sounded. "Oops," was all the girl could manage to say. As if it could only get worse, the door began to slide open. Director Minami entered the room, seeing a shocked Miku staring at the mixer, and a Luka behind her on the bench averting her eyes.

"Well, how are you girls doing?" Kouki asked jovially, having not yet processed the situation he was walking into. Having taken a second to see the scene before him, his brows furrowed. "Dare I ask what happened here?" he asked, glaring at Miku.

"Um… About that… E-eheheh," Miku laughed nervously. It only served to annoy the master further, his eyes narrowing, and his voice rising steadily to a yell.

"Just what did you do?" the master asked. "That is not a request, 01. That is an order!"

"Yes, Master," Miku said. The tone disappeared from her voice. "After the completion of our duties, an accident was made where a slider was turned too high on the mixing panel. This appears to have caused a structural failure in one or more components."

"You did what!?" Kouki yelled at Miku. "Did I not tell you to be extremely careful, and not to touch _anything_ other than what you must!?"

"Yes, Master," Miku said, still seemingly entranced. "I have failed you due to my negligence in attention."

"Not only have you failed me, you may have damaged sensitive audio technology!" Kouki said.

"It was an accident, Master…" Luka said, trying to spare Miku from the master's anger.

"Did I tell you to voice your opinion, 03?" Kouki asked, clenching his fists. "And you're even daring to question my authority? Silence, 03!"

"Yes, Master," Luka said meekly and yielded. Kouki's hand released, unfurled to a flat palm. He struck Miku across the face, leaving a light red mark on her face, and making her withdraw back. Luka began to reach out, to help the girl, but withdrew her hand, not wanting to attract Minami's further ire.

"Now out of my way," Kouki said to the still cowering Miku. The girl slowly slid out of the way, not wanting to contradict any more orders. Kouki walked over to the mixing table, and began to examine it. He brought out a key ring from his pocket, and unlocked a lock at the edge of the board, and lifted off the top of the board, which was hinged on the opposite side. A waft of smoke lifted from the board, smelling strongly of ozone and burning electronics. Kouki scowled as he looked on.

Kouki walked over to the instrument and equipment storage room. "You had better hope with your life that we have an extra back here," he said, unlocking the door with his ID card. He opened the room and entered, hiding him from the pair's view.

"It's okay, Miku," Luka said, reaching out to brush Miku's hair with her hand. "It's not your fault. I should have noticed before you turned it too high." She spoke softly, trying to reassure the cringing Miku without Kouki noticing and lashing out at her again. Miku made no response, as Luka quickly righted herself and returned to her original pose so as not to arouse suspicion as Kouki exited the room with a box.

"Thankfully for you two, we have a few extras in stock," Kouki said, and returned to the board. He also held a dustpan, with which he brushed up a few shards of glass. He unscrewed something from the panel, and took out an object from the box. It was a vacuum tube, a now rare and highly specialized piece of equipment. Kouki lowered the slider next to the empty socket, and proceeded to screw in the new tube into it. He carefully set down the lid of the mixing board and locked it. "So then. You get off lucky this time," Kouki said, some of the malice from his voice dissipating now that the issue had been resolved. He turned to the still-cowering Miku. "01, stand up."

"Yes, Master," Miku said and stood up. Her knees shook as she did so, as if she could collapse at any moment.

"I will forgive this incident, just this once, seeing as we had a spare," Kouki said. "However, if I find you have been neglectful in your assigned duties, ever again, there will be a more severe punishment. 03, I will assume you had no role in this incident other than failing to prevent it?"

"That would be correct, Master," Luka said.

"I will give you merely a warning, then," Kouki said. "Be very careful to try and prevent incidents, understood?"

"Yes, Master," Luka said.

"That's it, then," Kouki said. "I'll examine your work later. I assume if you were both on this side, that means you completed all the assigned contracts in time. You're dismissed."

"I'm very sorry, Master," Miku said, as she prepared to leave from the room.

"You're dismissed," Kouki said, nothing more.

The two girls stood soundlessly and worked their way around the director and out of the studio entirely. Kouki remained inside, appearing to arrange things back into the format he preferred. Luka shut the door behind them, taking care that he wasn't disturbed any more than he already was. Miku then spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Luka," Miku said. "I think I'm gonna go back to my room a little early today. I promise I can stick around for dinner and everything tomorrow!" She began to slink off into the residential hall, leaving the pink-haired woman alone. Luka decided to go on by herself to dinner, and soon afterward retired to her room, her second day ever finished on a remarkably low note…

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 3 - Learning_

As always, for instant updates and commentary, follow me on Tumblr, the link is available in my profile.


	5. Chapter 4 - Models

・ Author's Notes ・

Hey there again! I have absolutely nothing to say up here. (what a surprise, eh?) Kind of a shorter chapter than usual, I apologize in advance. And yes, Shirogane Tsubasa is in fact supposed to be Yowane Haku (I changed her name since 1, no self respecting Japanese person would use that name, and 2, I figure Haku is her stage name kinda thing). With that said, I'll see you all again next week!

・ ・ ・

The morning of the next day was surprisingly uneventful compared to the events of the previous evening. Luka awoke once again with her alarm guiding her morning. The woman reluctantly dressed in the incredibly complex outfit from her first day. Truth be told, it wasn't particularly uncomfortable once it was worn, but getting it on was an entirely different matter. She ate breakfast with a silent Miku, probably still a bit stunned from the events of the previous night. Luka didn't want to press the matter any further, so she simply stayed silent like her companion. After that, she returned to her room to receive instructions from her master.

"One new message - Director Minami Kouki," the computer reported yet again. Luka attended to the notification, and yet again the message expanded on her screen. "Luka, if you're reading this, I expect you've finished your breakfast. As I mentioned yesterday, you'll be doing your promotional photo shoot today, where we'll get all the stuff we need to start really publicizing you as we want. In order to do that, we'll have to go to the shooting studio, which isn't on the normal floor. You don't usually have access to that floor, so meet me in my office as soon as you're ready. Make sure to wear the outfit from your first day, you'll need it since that's the outfit we created specifically for these purposes. That's all. Director Minami out."

After reading the message, Luka sighed. She would rather be singing than made into a photo model, but she supposed there was no choice. The more public her face was, the more people who would end up asking her to sing. The woman exited her room and locked the door, and began to make her way towards Kouki's office. This time as she passed the lounge, Kaito and Len were relaxing on the couch in front of the television, with Miku sitting on another couch, attending to some electronic gadget in her hands. Luka passed them by, and went straight for her goal, Kouki's office. When she arrived, she noticed that Kouki was actually standing outside, waiting for her.

"Good morning, Luka," Kouki said. "My personal apologies for last night's events, and I'll leave it at that. We have much greater things to attend to this morning!" He motioned down the administrative hall, the only one that Luka wasn't at least a little familiar with. "Come then, follow me," he said, and started down. The pair walked almost to the end of the hall, where Kouki turned inward towards a pair of elevators. "We'll be taking these up to the fourth floor, where we have nearly the entire floor converted into photo and video studios. We get commissioned a lot for videos after recordings." Kouki pressed a button to call the elevator to their level.

"So this will only take the first part of the day?" Luka asked, as the doors to the elevator opened. As they did, the pair entered the elevator. Kouki scanned an ID card and pressed the button for the fourth floor.

"If all goes well, yes," Kouki said. "I'm as anxious as you for you to get back to singing. As much as the photos will do for it, nothing is better for us than getting you singing." Luka watched the floor indicator on the elevator. B2F, B1F, 1F… 2F, 3F… 4F. They had arrived. The doors to the elevator slid open, and the pair exited into another office hall much like the one they had just left.

Kouki led Luka down the hall wordlessly, as Luka examined the hall with curiosity. Nearly every door was labeled with "Video Studio" or "Photographic Studio", and those that weren't often indicated themselves as either the office of a photographic adviser or as storage. Eventually, Kouki stopped in front of a door, this one labeled "Photographic Studio 1".

"Well, here's our stop," Kouki said. "I won't have much of a role in here. I'm afraid my knowledge is limited to music, so you'll be under the control of the photographer rather than myself. I'll be sticking around to keep an eye on things, though. I'll just attend to any business as it appears on my phone. Not that I think my supervision is necessary, but the photographer feels better. Anyway, that's enough talk. Let's get this started." Kouki opened the door to the studio.

The room was expansive, with a number of backgrounds taking up all four walls. On one wall, a green screen hung in case the others were insufficient. On the other walls, there was a brick wall, a beach scene, a city backdrop, and many more, so they could theoretically display Luka anywhere they needed. A short man stood near the center of the room, an extremely large camera and lens in hand. As Kouki and Luka entered the room, the man set the camera down on a table on wheels, and turned to face the pair.

"Welcome," the man said. "I just finished preparing for Ms. Megurine's photo shoot."

"Very good," Kouki said. "I entrust her with you, I'll be sitting over here should you need my assistance." He pointed to a chair right next to the door to the studio. He turned away and sat down.

"Understood," the man replied. He turned to Luka. "Now then, let's get started. I'm Tsukino Noburo, one of the lead photographers here at Crypton, and I'll be taking care of you today. Now then, our first photos will be taken on the flat white background so we can do the base standing pose and all that. Stand back, please."

"Yes, sir," Luka said, and stood back. Noburo grabbed hold of a roll on the ceiling, and pulled down, revealing a large expanse of white material. He dragged the roll down past the height required, and set it along the floor, and then braced it into a perfect right angle along the floor with a clip.

"Now then, stand right there in the center of that area, and just stand still," Noburo said. Luka did as the man requested. "Alright… I'm thinking, cross your arms, and give me a light smile." Luka followed instructions. "Perfect!" Noburo exclaimed, and began to rapidly take photos of her. After he had snapped photos to his heart's content, he motioned for Luka to step off of the plain white.

"I'm thinking the circuit backdrop myself," Kouki said from the sidelines.

"I was thinking the same thing, Director!" Noburo said enthusiastically. "But we don't have a pink setting, and I thought that was her color motif…"

"Reuse the blue," Kouki said. "Either blue or pink, both colors work for her."

"Got it," the photographer replied. He moved his cart along the walls to a darkened wall with a number of traces on it resembling a circuit board. He pressed a few buttons on a panel, and suddenly the wall came to life in a blue vaguely resembling Miku's colors, with pulses moving through the traces.

"Yes, that looks good," Kouki said, watching the photography closely. The photographer pulled out a stool from beside, and set it in front of the backdrop.

"Sit on this, would you?" Noburo requested. Luka sat down, crossing her legs and holding her arms. "Excellent, excellent." He began snapping photos rapidly once again, from a variety of angles. Once he was satisfied, he set the camera back down yet again. "An excellent suggestion, Director. She looked even better than I had originally expected."

"I'd like to think I have an eye for this sort of thing," Kouki said. "Of course, the real judgment is yours, and you've produced excellent results in the past. That's my one and only real suggestion."

"If that's all you'd like to keep it to," Noburo said. "I'd be entirely willing to take one more suggestion, though."

"Oh, if you insist," Kouki said. "I'm thinking a pose with a guitar, on the brick backdrop, with a spotlight."

"Ooh, excellent idea!" Noburo said. "Come, this way." He dragged Luka and the cart over to the brick wall. The photographer quickly dashed around and grabbed a black-and-white electric guitar and brought it over to Luka. He handed the instrument to her, and she instinctively held it in playing position. He then brought out a large light, set a filter to pink, and shined it on Luka.

"Should I actually play the guitar, or just pose?" Luka asked.

"Just pose for now," Noburo requested. Once Luka was in position, the rapid fire of shutter snaps resumed, and yet again didn't end until the photographer was satisfied.

Something vaguely unsettled Luka about this whole business. Noburo was clearly enthusiastic about taking photos of her. She was inclined to say _too _enthusiastic, though. Maybe it was because she was the first new android in nearly a year, and Noburo wanted the opportunity to photograph her as much as he possibly could? That certainly seemed probable… But there was something more to it, something she couldn't put her finger on. Meanwhile, a ringing sound began to emit from Kouki. The man stood, and brought the phone out of his pocket once again.

"Director Minami here," he answered. "Ah, you've completed it already? Very good. Come up to the fourth floor, Photographic Studio 1. I'm here with CV03, but don't worry, we're just taking photos. You can enter… That's it? All right then, I'll be waiting. Director Minami out."

"Who was that?" Luka asked.

"Engineer Shirogane Tsubasa," the director answered. "She's got a new module for my control device ready, and she'll be bringing it up. Don't let that interrupt your photo taking, though. We won't be a nuisance."

"I wouldn't have even begun to think you would be anyway," Noburo said. "Anyway, Luka. On to the next backdrop." The photographer continued to shuffle Luka about amongst the many backgrounds in the room, making her perform all manner of poses and actions. Luka followed along, silently cursing the fact that she was being forced to do this. Just a few moments later, a knock sounded at the door.

"Come on in," Kouki said. "It's Shirogane, correct?"

"Yes, sir," came a feminine voice from the other side. The door opened, revealing a woman in a lab coat, who entered and closed the door. She had extremely long white hair tied back into a ponytail with a black and purple ribbon, and, mysteriously, red eyes. She had unusually pale skin as well. An albino? Luka couldn't tell from her distance. She wore a name tag identifying her as "Shirogane Tsubasa - Module Engineer". The woman held a small black box.

"Ah, is that it? Smaller than expected," Kouki commented. The woman walked up to him.

"Yes, this is it," Tsubasa said. "It was relatively easy to put together, all things considered. It really didn't require any new parts to be made. The functions all existed before, it's just we didn't have the software required to do with it what you wanted. The code monkeys have been bored recently, though, since we finished Luka. They jumped straight on the chance to make something, even if it was just a control device module."

"I figured as much," Kouki said. "I still wasn't expecting it this fast, though. You have some amazing speed."

"It's the only thing I had to work on," Tsubasa replied. "When the doc has me doing things, I finish fast, but she's always got something next in the pipeline. But since she's discussing CV04 with the higher-ups, she hasn't had anything for me to do. Everything has to be built specifically for its purpose, so we can't start until everybody agrees on what to do. Which of course, they can't. They never can."

"As much as I'd like to, I don't have any input in that process, unfortunately," Kouki said. "The guys up top decide based on what they think will sell, not what the people down here want. Not that I mind, though. I've been routinely impressed by the work of your teams and what the people in charge decide."

"Well, thank you," Tsubasa said. "Well then, this is yours. You're welcome to contact me again should you need anything else made." She handed out the box to the director.

"Of course," Kouki said. "You'll be my first pick if I need anything." He took the box from her hand, and quickly opened it to inspect it. "Looks excellent. I won't distract you any further. Goodbye."

"Farewell," Tsubasa said, and left as quickly as she had arrived. That left the room containing only the photographer, Kouki, and Luka once more.

The photographer continued to move Luka around from background to background. Meanwhile, Luka had begun to discover what had been bothering her about the photo shoot. As enthusiastic as Noburo was, there was never any emotion in what he did. Whenever she was commanded to move to the next background, it was "smile", or "frown a little", or "angle your eyebrows". His directions never included things like "act happy", or "be angry". He was focused merely upon the visual value of what he produced, not at all on how Luka felt or the feelings her expressions embodied. She was merely a doll, a toy being carefully photographed before being put on sale to the highest bidder.

Alongside this, something else had begun to bother Luka about this scene. Kouki had said that he was going to be using his phone to attend to business. But since the call from Shirogane, nothing else had prompted him to remove the device from his pocket. Instead, he remained oddly entranced by the sight of Luka being photographed. It was entirely possible, and indeed probable, that he simply had nothing else better to do. She had been unveiled as planned, had completed contracts, and the higher-ups had been well informed of her completion. Luka didn't know much about what Kouki's job entailed. It was entirely possible that he had hit a lull in his duties.

Still, it didn't sit right with Luka. He had mentioned the photographer likes to have him around when androids are in the studio. But other than a couple of suggestions right at the beginning, the photographer had no interaction with Kouki. In fact, Noburo had just been going along his merry way, and soon it didn't even seem like Kouki was there. The only reason Luka continued to notice his presence was because of the power he had over her. Luka's suspicions arose, but she did nothing about it. There was nothing she could do, anyway. She would have to put up with being oddly unsettled; she didn't want to contradict Kouki's orders. Not after what happened the last time she saw his orders failed.

"Alright, Ms. Megurine, we're nearly done," the photographer said, rousing Luka from her thoughts. The very implication brightened Luka's mood immediately. "There's just a couple more backgrounds I want to try, then we'll do the green screen, and you'll be done! We're in the home stretch now." Luka wasn't sure how long she had been at this. Surely too long.

The photographer dragged Luka along to the city background, and had her pose provocatively in front of the camera. _As if things couldn't get any more degrading, _Luka thought with the latest developments. Now, not only was she a doll photographed before sale, but she was also an object of attraction rather than a woman. She had to make a mental note to disable her ability to blush, thankfully something she could do as an android. These poses were far too embarrassing; she blushed so much otherwise that it would ruin his photos. Her efforts seemed to please both Noburo and Kouki, though.

After a few more backgrounds, Luka was finally brought to the green screen. She breathed a sigh of relief as she reached it. According to the photographer, this signified the last part that she would need to pose for. The faster they finished, the sooner that Luka could be let free. While she wasn't any happier about being forced to pose, Luka was relieved that it would finally be coming to an end. After a few more rounds of rapid fire shutter snaps, Noburo set his camera down.

"And we're finally done!" the man exclaimed. "I'm going to go into the review room next door to make sure everything looks good, but from here I just have to send them back down to the Director, and you can decide what to use and where to put it. Stick tight until I review, though, I don't want to have to, but I might have messed up somewhere and need to redo a small portion." The man took a memory card out of the camera and scurried out of the room, leaving Kouki and Luka alone.

"So does this mean we're really done here?" Luka asked her master.

"Theoretically, yes," Kouki answered. "If I remember correctly, Noburo's one of the best. I think he only ever needed to retry once, and only for a few photos, and he's done the first shoots for both you and the others. The man's a bit eccentric, but he's very good at what he does." Luka felt a little relieved with that thought. If even Kouki thinks the photographer was a bit odd, that meant her suspicions may have been a bit valid.

"Will I be doing contracts again after this?" Luka asked.

"You should be. I have Miku working with you again," Kouki explained. "I have the utmost faith that you know what you're doing in the studio, but it can't hurt to have you supervised by one of your fellow androids. I also have the utmost faith that nobody will be making any mistakes again."

"Isn't that being a bit unfair to Miku, though?" Luka asked. "Doesn't she have her own contracts to fulfill?"

"She does," Kouki said. "I have her in the studio straight from end of breakfast to the beginning of lunch break, though. And she could never complete her entire contract queue in one day anyway, even if she had complete control over the studio for the whole thing. She's by far our most popular singer here, and she gets contracted a truly staggering amount every day."

"Really…?" Luka asked. She hadn't realized just how popular the other girl was.

"Yes, really," Kouki said. "I'm sure you'll be popular enough in time as well. Noburo's work here will help to ensure that." With those words, the door opened yet again, Noburo reentering.

"Good news," the photographer said. "Everything came out perfectly! I'll do some touch ups on them briefly, and then send them down to you so you can have the final judgment. That's all I need you up here for, so I'll see you again the next time you need photos done!" Some of the suspicion dissipated from Luka's mind… Kouki's presence did have a purpose here, even if it wasn't eminently obvious while she was being photographed.

"Very good, Tsukino," the director said. "We'll be taking our leave then." He stood and made a slight bow, and then motioned for Luka to leave with him.

Luka made her way back down from the fourth floor to the second basement floor with Kouki, where they soon parted. From there, it was on to lunch break with Miku and more singing contracts. At least now, she was free for a bit…

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 4 - Models_


	6. Chapter 5 - Night

・ Author's Notes ・

Hello once again! A (slightly) belated happy Independence Day or Canada Day to my North American readers! This chapter's both a bit short and really heavy on the thought monologue… I apologize in advance (I seem to be doing that a lot recently…). Other than that… Not much to say up here, see you again next week!

・ ・ ・

Luka laid alone on her bed, covered lightly by the sheets. She wore her pink pajamas that had been prepared for her in advance, but she couldn't fall asleep yet. Instead, she stared upwards at her ceiling. The third day ever of her life was coming to a close, and Luka still wasn't sure what to think about anything. On the one hand, she could be sure of a few things. She enjoyed singing, that much was clearly obvious. She enjoyed the company of Miku and the other androids, that too was clear. But past that... next to nothing was clear to her. Not in the slightest.

Miku's mood had greatly improved by the afternoon. The initial shock from the treatment by Kouki had appeared to dissipate by the time Luka met with her during lunch break and for training afterward. The girl conversed with and taught Luka with the same excitement and fervor that she had the previous afternoon. Luka had to say that she much preferred Miku like that. That being said, though, Luka was a bit disappointed. Other than the lunch breaks, she and Miku had next to no time to converse in a casual context. Miku had retired early last night because of the incident with Kouki, as well as tonight, just to rest some. Luka made it a point to try and interact more casually with the others in the coming days...

Luka called to mind Miku's appearance. Something about that girl struck her in some different way than the other androids. While Kaito and Len seemed to be okay guys, Meiko seemed like she could be a good drinking buddy and friend, and Rin seemed like a little sister she needed to protect... But Miku was different. Luka wasn't exactly sure how or in what way, though. She decided to abandon that train of thought. It wasn't getting her anywhere new, and she had other neuroses that wanted attending as well. She decided to think about something else.

Despite trying to console herself and recover from some of the doubt that she had felt earlier in the day, something was still bothering Luka about the photo shoot earlier that morning. She couldn't put a finger directly on it. Her doubts were hazy at best, and Luka wasn't entirely sure of their origin or their true significance. Of course, there was the part that Luka clearly saw. Noburo, the photographer, had been odd in his attitudes and actions with getting her to pose and express as he wanted. But that wasn't the full extent of her suspicion...

Part of it was the sudden visit from the module engineer. Her name was Shirogane Tsubasa, wasn't it? Apparently Kouki was getting a module for his control device. But what did that mean? Neither the engineer or the master had said anything about the module that she had given him. Maybe it was just because they had no reason to? Presumably, if he requested it and she made it, they would both understand the purpose and there would be no reason to discuss what it did. But it left Luka curious. What did it do? Why did he request it so well timed along with Luka's awakening? Was it just a coincidence? Many questions sprang into Luka's mind the more she thought about it.

Whatever it was, Luka hoped it had nothing to do with her. After all, the only time she had even seen the control device, much less had it used on her, was during the tuning of her vocal cores. Further than that, Kouki had openly said he had no intent of using it on her for any real reason. Could she trust his word? She gave it some thought for a moment. Probably. While the man may have physically hurt Miku and left her momentarily scarred, though he did have a perfectly valid reason for it, even if it didn't entirely justify his modus operandi. She saw nothing to imply that Kouki would not be a man of his word.

That brought Luka to another essential problem, though. For all intents and purposes, she was a tool. She was an object, one that happened to have a personality and could sing. But she was a robot, an android. It was then that it clicked within Luka's mind. That had been the reason that Noburo had treated her as oddly as he had. He thought of her as a tool in that sense. She was a robot, there was no way she could be capable of emotion and understanding. She could be given objective commands and fulfill them, but something as subjective as emotion was out of the realm of possibility for a robot like Luka, or at least according to his perspective. Feeling inhuman wasn't just a result of his actions, it was the very cause of them.

Luka continued down that line of thought. Sure, she was a robot. She was engineered and created by humans to be used as a tool for humans. But despite that... She really didn't identify or feel like she was really a robot. She had no frame of reference, but she had seen other humans in the building, and talked with both Kouki and Doctor Murakami. She felt that she embodied all of the necessary characteristics to "be human", even if she wasn't biologically the same. Truthfully, she wasn't biologically anything...

She thought more about the kind of treatment she had received during her short time thus far. The more she thought about it, there were only a few people that really treated her as an equal, or at least similar levels as normal humans. Despite Murakami referring to her constantly as CV03, the doctor seemed to talk to her relatively normally, at least how she compared her own discussions with Murakami to those between the doctor and Kouki. The master, despite his outburst the previous evening, always referred to her by name as "Luka", and seemed to treat her rather fairly, like she was a normal subordinate. And of course, her fellow androids had no issues with her. Miku had already confided in Luka as a friend, and while she hadn't had much interaction with the other androids, she felt that she was getting to know them as well.

But for other interactions that Luka had... She couldn't say the same good things. From the very beginning, the stylists that came into the lab talked as if she wasn't there. They discussed between themselves about the other androids, and only ever spoke to Luka for requests and commands. It didn't seem to be just a simple deal of them being tired of their jobs or anything like that. They were certainly talkative amongst themselves, just not to Luka directly. Luka looked back to other times. The cafeteria staff were certainly dull and had no real interaction, but that was probably just because of the fact that they weren't too amused with their job. And of course, there was the photographer. She wasn't sure if this would be the majority opinion on her or not. She certainly hoped it wasn't, but she didn't have much of a frame of reference. As of now, though, more humans had treated her lower and as a tool than had treated her on a near equal level.

From there, Luka's thoughts diverted to one of those extremely few people that had treated her at least on a fair level, if not the same. Minami Kouki, her master… Luka wasn't exactly sure what to think about the man still. He was certainly charismatic. He also seemed to care somewhat for Luka and the other androids, at least without the one glaring exception. But other than that… Luka was surprised at how little she knew about the man, the one with the power to control her life with a single word. She tried to piece together what he had shown about himself and the other things that she had picked up on. The man was intelligent and young. He looked quite a bit younger than Doctor Murakami, but had a surprising collection of books on basically anything that could pertain to his job in his office. He prioritized the singing jobs of the androids over most everything else, wanting Luka to get to contracts immediately and also having Miku train her to make it faster.

Luka tried to think more about her master and what he was like… But came up remarkably empty. It had only been three days, after all. She knew that he had little tolerance for error. The man lashed out at Miku for one simple error that anyone in that position could have made, though a costly mistake. Based on his rapid transition from jovial entrance to anger, it seemed he had a bit of a temper as well. But compared to the other attributes that the man had displayed, these were relatively subdued in comparison. Luka wasn't sure it was fair to judge him on those characteristics yet.

Luka turned over and looked at the clock on her bedside stand. It read "02:03"… She would have to be up by 09:00 if the trend of wakeup times would stay as it had been. She turned over and faced her wall, knowing that she would have to get to sleep soon. Her thoughts begged her to stay, to go over them yet again, despite the fact that she knew well that she wouldn't find anything new within them. She tried to shut them out and fall asleep…

The simple attempt wouldn't work that easily. Thankfully, she was an android, and could abuse all of the powers it gave her over her own body. She slowly forced herself into sleep mode, shutting out the thoughts by force, since they obviously wouldn't go away politely. Within a couple moments, her mind was clear and she fell calmly into sleep…

She began to dream… She found herself standing in a vast, cold stone room. Luka tried to move… and found that she could not. Not very far, anyway. Heavy, golden chains bound her to the wall behind her, impeding her movement. She looked around. The room was extremely large, and dark. She couldn't see the other side, shrouded in darkness. Far in the distance, along the walls to the sides, she could see collapsed figures also bound by chains. They were too far away to distinguish, their bodies mostly shrouded by the room's darkness. Luka tried to focus and see if she could pull anything out of the scene before her, but couldn't.

"Is anyone out there?!" Luka called out. She listened closely, to see if anyone would respond. She heard nothing but the jingling sound of her own chains. "Is there anybody out there?! Please respond if you are!" she called again. Still no response. She flung her arms around, shaking the chains and making a constant noise. It did nothing to help.

Luka looked down at herself. Not only was she chained by the wrists and ankles, she was only barely clothed. She wore a torn burlap top that hung over only one shoulder, leaving the other bare. It did very little in the way of protection, not even covering her midriff. She wore a similar pair of pants, dotted with small holes, with large tears in the sides of the legs. She looked past herself, to the stone floor of the room. Dried blood was caked on the floor, right underneath the eyelets where the chains connected to the wall. Was it hers? The previous prisoner here? She had no way of knowing. She wasn't injured in any way she could detect, though, so it probably wasn't hers.

Luka tried to struggle against her chains. They were made of gold, a soft and weak metal, and she thought they might just be weak enough. The woman twisted the chains and pulled against all four of them, pulling her arms and legs away from the wall. At first, it seemed futile. The chains didn't budge, didn't stretch, didn't show any signs of breaking. She put all her might into this one task, struggling with every iota of power contained in her body. And she began to move. Just by a few millimeters, but that was all she needed. Her limbs slowly snaked forward as the links weakened… And soon snapped entirely. The woman was now free from the wall, the shackles and part of the chain still attached to her wrists and ankles. But those chains were no longer bound to the wall.

Luka looked over to the figure on the distant wall. The body still laid still against the wall, chains holding it in place as they just had for Luka herself. Luka moved her arms and legs, testing if she was really free. While the remains of the gold chain still bound her and weighed her down, she could move well enough to investigate the figure. She moved towards the one that seemed closest to her. She began to run towards the figure, and slowly saw its shape developing into that of a young girl. She was collapsed and appeared unconscious as Luka made it to her side.

Luka examined the immobile body of the girl. Though her blond hair was unrecognizable and tousled, her clothes similarly poor like Luka's, the girl was undeniably the one that Luka had met just a couple of days before, Kagamine Rin. She too had dried blood underneath her… Unlike Luka's own, though, Rin's chains were clear and shining steel, obviously stronger than Luka's. Luka turned towards the far end of the room, opposite where she had been chained. She could only see a spot of brown… She completed her turn around… and saw a bright spot of teal on the wall opposite Rin.

"Miku!" Luka screamed, making an instant connection. She ran quickly to the other side of the room, no care for the shackles that should have impeded her progress. The girl's usually bright teal hair was dirty and tangled, unbound from the pigtails it was always in. She wore shoddy clothes much like the other two girls. There was blood underneath her, but unlike the others… Some appeared fresh, and stained her clothing. She was still breathing, but in short and unsteady gasps. Luka took hold of the chains that bound Miku to the wall, and pulled with all of her might. Like Rin's though, Miku's were steel and showed no signs of breaking.

That didn't stop Luka's attack. She pulled and pulled on the chains, knowing that her efforts would be futile. She didn't want to give up… Eventually, beginning to grow tired, Luka released the chains. She lightly shook Miku's body… "Hey, Miku… please wake up," she requested quietly into Miku's ear. The words didn't seem to reach the unconscious girl. Luka shook harder. "Please, please wake up Miku!" she said, her tone growing more and more desperate. When even this failed, Luka fell to her knees. "Please, someone, anyone, save Miku!" she yelled to the sky…

And then the woman awoke. She turned over and faced the clock on the bedstand again. "04:28" read the display. _What a strange dream… _Luka thought. _I should really try to fall back to sleep, though… I've got to be up in just a little while._ The woman turned back over in her bed, and began to try and sleep once more… But found her attempts interrupted. She picked up a faint sound coming from just outside her door. Curious, Luka stood and came closer to the door, trying to discern the source of the mysterious noise.

With her ear against the door, she could hear the sounds from outside more clearly. She could hear footsteps just outside her door, coming from the left. They came closer… and to a stop entirely, directly in front of Luka's door. She heard a bit of shuffling, and then the characteristic sound of a card going through the reader at her door. She looked down at the handle of the door. Where the usual LED glowed either green to show the door was unlocked, or red to show it was currently locked, it now showed neither. The light on her door glowed purple, a color she hadn't yet witnessed.

Luka took hold of the door handle and tried to turn it open. Unlike if the door was usually locked, nothing changed. The handle remained firmly in place, and the door remained firmly closed. She held her hand on the knob. If holding it for five seconds while it was unlocked would lock it, would holding it for some time in this odd locked state unlock it? But still, nothing changed. The door remained resolute in its position, and the LED remained lit in the odd purple.

Luka pressed her ear to the door again. The footsteps resumed, and moved further to the right. Another pause… and then the footsteps resumed yet again, until they faded out with distance. Luka kept her ear on the door, just in case the footsteps came this way again. And surely enough, they did. Even more so, the footsteps were different this time. There was the same pair of heavy footsteps, likely male, that had came through the first time. But this time, they were accompanied by a lighter pair. A female companion? They came closer, and passed by Luka's door entirely, until coming to a stop just past it…

Luka listened as intently as possible to the sounds out in the hall. She barely picked up another sound of a card swiping, as well as the heavy sound of a lock being removed. But wait… The room next to hers was unoccupied. She heard the door open, and the footsteps enter. The door closed, and she was left in silence. While the door was the weak point, the rooms themselves were well insulated, preventing all but the largest of noises from breaking through. But the door next to hers… That door was supposed to be CV04's room. And unless somebody was hiding things from her… CV04 was merely an idea in Murakami's mind. There was no reason for anybody to be over there…

What had just happened here? Luka still couldn't open her door… Whose footsteps were those that went past her door? Why and how did her door lock without being able to open it? And who was the person who accompanied the other on the way past her room the second time? The more Luka thought about what had just happened, the more questions appeared in her mind. She would find no resolution this way.

Luka walked back over to her bedside, and tossed herself onto the bed. Worrying about it right now would be futile. Her door was locked and she saw no easy way to escape from it. Furthermore, she had to be up in just a few hours and be ready to sing. She already had her time to confuse herself about things earlier tonight. She could look for answers to those questions in the morning… The woman slid herself under the sheets once more, turning over. This time, she fell asleep normally, no force required, and slept dreamlessly…

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 5 - Night_


	7. Chapter 6 - Rest

・ Author's Notes ・

Hello there, once again! You'll notice that this chapter… has a different feel than previous chapters recently. While the mysteries continue to unfold, this is sort of a break chapter in a way, focusing a little more on the side stories of things rather than the main development. I hope you don't mind that, because I think this chapter is pretty funny and still is significant! Also, I'm below drinking age, and only have the faintest idea of how it would effect someone, so yeah, that part could use some work... But anyway, that's enough babbling from me. On with the show!

・ ・ ・

Two days later… Saturday, February 3, 2029. Luka woke uneasily… Her alarm hadn't gone off. She turned over in bed and looked at the clock. It read the time as being noon… She sighed. _I suppose it can't be helped. I can't expect it to know when I want to wake on a day off, and I shouldn't have expected it to keep setting itself… _Luka thought. She slowly sat up in her bed. It was her first Saturday since waking for the first time. Like many Japanese businesses, things slowed down on the weekends. She wasn't required to do any contracts, and she wasn't required to do anything else. The day was hers.

Yesterday, after contracts, Miku had come and talked to Luka. She wanted to make up for not being able to hang out and talk with Luka, so had promised that tonight Luka could come over to her room and they could hang out freely without interference. Despite the simplicity of such an action, Luka found herself oddly excited to get the chance to really talk with and hang out with the girl. But first, she had some other things to take care of.

Questions still lingered in Luka's mind from the earlier night as she dressed. Too much about that night was still unknown and vague to her. She had been busy with contracting work yesterday, though, and so couldn't take care of things dealing with that. But since she was off today, she would take time and go to Doctor Murakami first thing. She seemed to know her way around things in the facility, so maybe she could answer why there were footsteps at such an odd hour, and why Luka's door locked and couldn't be opened.

Luka slowly opened her door. She had gotten dressed in a simple long-sleeved shirt and jeans, not wanting to even begin to fuss with anything more complicated. She slipped on her indoor shoes and made her way into the hall. The woman turned past the unoccupied room that was used for some unknown purpose the other night, and made her way to the far corner of the room. There, Murakami's office remained. She knocked lightly on the door.

"Who is it?" came a voice from the other side.

"Luka," the woman said.

"Ah, 03," the voice said. "Feel free to come in." Luka opened the door and entered the room. Murakami was sitting at her desk, several unorganized piles of papers on her desk, and a couple of pictures of different male figures. Where the empty frame was on her wall had been replaced by the framed standing pose of Luka herself…

"Sorry to intrude," Luka said. "But I had a few questions I wanted to ask you."

"It's perfectly fine," the doctor responded. "Take a seat. I need a bit of distraction from the guys up top giving me conflicting ideas for the future 04."

"Is that what those papers are about?" Luka asked, looking curiously at them.

"Exactly," Murakami said. "The only thing they seem to be able to agree upon is that it'll be a male. Part of them want a young voice like Len's, the others want a mature voice like Kaito's or our competitor's. But anyway, I doubt that's what you're here for. You look like you have something on your mind."

"Yes, it's about something that happened early in the morning, around four AM, the day before yesterday," Luka said. "Do you know of anything that could lock my bedroom door and make it impossible for me to open?"

"Hmm…" Murakami set her hand on her chin and looked down aimlessly. "Well, both Director Minami and I have the ability to do it with our key cards. But I certainly wouldn't be here at four AM. I highly doubt that Minami would be around at that kind of hour either. Oh, yes! I remember now." The doctor sat up. "When the maintenance staff comes in, the doors lock. It's both to prevent any of you with interfering with them, though that was never an issue, and also to prevent the maintenance staff from interfering with you. That must be it. I don't remember them coming in on Thursdays, but I wouldn't rule it out. We don't have much communication with that department."

"Oh, okay then," Luka said. The answer quelled some of her worries.

"Was there anything else you wanted to ask about?" the doctor asked. There was still one large part that lingered in her mind…

"I also heard the door to the room next to me open," Luka said. "Isn't that room eventually supposed to be for CV04 and off limits? Why would somebody be in there?"

"Hmm. That's unusual," Murakami answered. "Usually I would say yes. But now that I think about it, I think that the maintenance staff was using it as a break room for a little while. I remember the director getting angry with them and telling them to stop, but who knows if they actually listened. Not that I really care. The room's empty and doesn't involve me. As long as it's in ready condition by the time we finish CV04 and he's ready to occupy the room, I don't care who or what's using it." Luka sighed and sat back in the chair.

"That's really everything I had to ask," Luka said. "I was kinda worried for a bit, but if it's just the maintenance people, there's nothing to worry about."

"Exactly," Murakami said. "I wouldn't worry about it. I'll mention it to Minami on Monday, and he'll probably go yell at maintenance again to stop using CV04's room. If there's anything actually suspicious going on, I'm sure he'd know better and would help take care of it. Was that all you needed?"

"Yes, thank you Doctor," Luka said, and stood from her seat.

"If you have any other questions or need anything done, you're welcome to come back and ask," Murakami said as Luka prepared to exit the door.

"I'll be sure to do that," Luka said. Freed from part of the doubt that had decided to take hold over her mind, Luka made her way through the halls and to the lounge. Miku had said that they would go to her room tonight, so Luka needed something to do in the interim. As she entered, she noticed that everyone was gathered in various areas of the room. Meiko noticed Luka's presence, and sat up a bit.

"Hey, Luka!" Meiko said, holding up a dark bottle with a label Luka couldn't read. "I got the good stuff tonight, let's celebrate, new girl!" Meiko's face was noticeably flushed. Apparently she hadn't waited to enjoy the bottle's contents. Miku and Rin sat across the table from Meiko, and Kaito was sitting next to her. Len sat off to the side on a separate couch. Luka walked forward and took a seat next to Miku.

"What took you so long, Luka?" Miku asked. "We were waiting for you!"

"Oh, I was just getting some questions answered, nothing to worry about," Luka said. "So apparently we're celebrating me?"

"That's right!" Meiko said. She grabbed an empty cup from the table, and poured some of the bottle into it, and slid it towards Luka. "C'mon, enjoy yourself!"

"She's drunk," Miku whispered into Luka's ear. As if it wasn't obvious. Luka picked up the small cup.

"Is this really okay?" she asked.

"You might literally be only a few days old," Miku said, "but your body is 20, and your mind is 20. That's good enough for Japan." Miku leaned in for a whisper again. "Just don't go overboard like Meiko, okay?"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on it," Luka said. She raised the cup to her lips and took a short sip. The taste of alcohol was overwhelming, along with slight hints of sugar and other things that Luka couldn't identify. It wasn't entirely pleasant, but neither was it particularly unpleasant.

"Now the party's really getting started," Meiko said. "So, Luka, how's it feel now that you've been here a little while?" Luka took another sip of the sake.

"Still as confusing as ever," Luka said. "But I'm starting to get the hang of things. Miku's been a big help when it comes to that." Luka glanced over to her side, towards Miku. She was blushing the tiniest bit. "It's nice to get a break from that madness, though!"

"You're officially one of us now," Rin said. "No matter how much we all like singing, we're all tired out by the weekend…"

"Well, it's good to know that I'm not the only one," Luka said. "So do you guys usually just gather around here on the weekend?"

"Pretty much, though it's better if we have an excuse like today," Meiko said. "That means I get to convince the guys in the cafeteria to let me have the good stuff."

"So that's how you did it, Mei," Kaito said. "I thought that they were starting to get suspicious about you, so you used that to get it anyway!"

"Hey, shut up, Popsicle boy!" Meiko retorted. "Didn't you get banned from the ice cream for the same reason? I heard you yelling about it the other day!"

"Don't remind me," Kaito replied dejectedly, burying his face in his hands. Luka thought the man looked like he had been punched in the soul. _This promises to be an interesting afternoon,_ Luka thought.

"That's what I thought," Meiko said. "You've got nothin' on me!"

"Don't mind those two," Miku whispered to Luka, once again. "They love trading insults, but it's all in good fun."

"You're heartless, Mei!" Kaito complained. "Ice cream is my soul, you can't attack a man's soul like that!"

"I can and I did," Meiko retorted. "Besides, sake is the oil of the soul, so you're attacking my soul too!" And so the afternoon continued. Meiko and Kaito continued to trade jabs for a while, and Miku and Luka discussed the antics of the others, while Rin looked on as an amused observer.

Meanwhile, Luka continued at the cup. Soon enough, it was empty, and Meiko took a short pause from her verbal slap fight with Kaito to fill it again, with some sort of sixth sense for the lack of alcohol. Despite being an android, Luka could begin to feel the effects as the continued. Apparently she had been programmed to have a realistic reaction to the chemical, as her mind clouded over a little with some unidentifiable abstract haze. It was an oddly pleasant haze, though. In it seemed to disappear many of the thoughts in the back of her mind. Soon enough, it would be about time for dinner.

"So what do we do here? Is the cafeteria open like normal?" Luka asked Miku.

"There aren't enough of us here usually," Miku said. "So we usually just order pizza or something. They'll deliver to the tower and there's usually somebody who'll bring it down to us."

"Could we at least order from a place other than Domino's this time…?" Rin asked. "I don't know what you like so much about that place. It's a special day, let's go for the expensive stuff!" Miku pouted in response.

"Okay…" Miku said. Despite giving a face that nobody could deny, Rin somehow found it within herself to deny it. Rin and Len turned toward each other and started discussing things in hushed tones, likely trying to choose a place. Within a couple of moments, Rin and Len separated.

"Alright!" Rin said. "Kaito, you order, you know what we like." She leaned in towards his side, and appeared to whisper something. Apparently she wanted to keep it a secret from Miku, Luka, and Meiko. Kaito grabbed an object from the table and started talking quietly to somebody over the phone.

And so things continued, yet again. Meiko's mental state appeared to degrade a little more, but she was still perfectly ready to continue jabbing at Kaito and keep refilling Luka's cup. Within just a short amount of time, Doctor Murakami came walking in from the hall that lead to the elevators.

"I'm going to keep this a secret from the Director," she said, holding a large stack of pizza boxes. "Because if he finds out that you spent this much money from the weekend food budget, he's probably going to get angry. And I'd rather avoid that." She set the stack of pizza boxes on the table and opened the top one. "But my silence cannot be bought with the kindness of my heart alone. How about I partake a little in your excessive use of funds and we'll call it a deal?"

"You are a tough negotiator, doctor," Meiko said. "I'll take that deal." She stretched out her hand towards the doctor, who grabbed it and gave it a firm shake.

"I'm glad to see that your fine decision making skills have not been impaired," Murakami said, continuing the excessive formality, and grabbed a couple pieces of pizza from the top box. "Well then, I'll be taking my leave from here for right now. Our agreement is hereby complete." Murakami stepped back from leaning over the table, gave a wink, and started walking back in the direction of her office.

"You know, for a genius doctor and designer of robots, she has a pretty good sense of humor," Luka said.

"She really does, huh?" Miku said. "She's usually the one to bring stuff down to us. Not enough other people are here on the weekends." The group continued their now evening, mostly speechless as they consumed their purchase. The haze in Luka's mind cleared a little, having not returned to Meiko's encouragement since Murakami had entered. Before she knew it, the food had all been consumed.

"You have excellent taste, Rin," Luka said. "Thank you."

"Hey, no problem!" Rin responded. Miku took Luka by the shoulder.

"We usually separate after now. I told you we could hang out in my room, though," Miku said. "Do you want to go back there now?"

"Sure, that sounds good," Luka said, and stood. Miku stood and walked out in front of Luka, and started down the hall to her room.

"You know where it is, of course, but since we're both going, you can follow me," Miku said, Luka following close behind.

"When are you going to turn from tsun to dere?!" the pair could hear Kaito yelling after Meiko as they parted from the rest of the group. There was something that vaguely resembled the sound of breaking glass, but neither Miku nor Luka decided to interfere. After just a moment, the pigtailed girl stopped in front of her door. She placed her hand on the knob to unlock it, then opened it and beckoned for Luka to enter.

"Excuse the intrusion," Luka said, and peeked into Miku's room as she entered. Unlike Luka's boring gray room, Miku had apparently highly customized her room. Her walls were pink, and her shelves were filled out… Manga volumes, plush toys, video games, and more. Miku came in and around Luka, and sat on a cushion around a low table off to the side of her room.

"Well… welcome," Miku said. "You can sit down, whatever." She appeared to be a bit nervous.

"I feel like if I sit down, I might accidentally camouflage myself," Luka said. Her pink hair was a similar shade to Miku's walls. Despite this, though, Luka walked over to the other side of Miku's table and sat down upon another cushion.

"So, it's been a big ride, huh?" Miku asked. "A lot of stuff must have happened to you the last few days. I remember back when I was revealed… Master had me moving around and doing things for so long afterward."

"Yeah…" Luka said. "It's been an exercise in patience. I've started to get a feel for things around here, but… It's weak, and I'm not sure what I'm doing here. The only certainties I have right now are Master's guidance and your help and friendship." She paused for a moment. "And right now I'm inclined to say that the latter is much more helpful than the former." Miku blushed at Luka's words.

"I'm glad I could help," Miku barely squeaked out. "I just really think that I should help you out… Meiko's always distracted by Kaito, who's always bugging her. Rin and Len are twins, they were created together. They would be inseparable, even if you had a chainsaw. But you… don't really have anyone else yet. And I thought you might be kinda lonely, so I thought that if I offered to be your friend, then I could help you and you'd be able to help me."

"Whatever your reason," Luka began, "I don't mind. While Master might be helpful in getting on my feet as a singer, you've been very helpful in getting on my feet as a person. I still don't know where I'm going yet, but I think that you'll be the one to help me find that place."

"To tell you the truth, Luka," Miku said, "I don't know if I know where I'm going yet either. So maybe you can help me find where I want to go too?"

"Perhaps our destinations are linked," Luka said. "I'd be glad to help you too. I'll do whatever you need." Miku was left silent for a moment with those words.

"Th-thank you, Luka," she eventually managed to say. "It means a lot to me." Miku paused and looked down at her lap. Luka took her advantage to resume the previous conversation, feeling tension in the air.

"I've started to get used to life around here, really," Luka said. "It's gonna take some more time, of course, but I think I'm slowly adapting. Having a day to relax, indulge, and talk with a friend I think is really going to help in that respect."

"That's good to know," Miku said. "I'll be able to stick around with you after work more now, I've started to feel a lot better after that whole incident the other day. I'm really sorry for not being around."

"Don't blame yourself," Luka said. "Anybody could have done that, it's Master's fault that he did that to you."

"Easier said than done," Miku responded. "But anyway, I think we should move on from that. There are a lot happier things to talk about!" Miku stood, turned around, and grabbed a book from off of her shelf. She sat back down, and placed it on the table in front of Luka.

"What's this?" Luka asked.

"It's a manga, a comic book!" Miku said. "I'm a big fan of them, so I thought I might be able to show you a few. This one's a 4-panel comedy, I think that you would really like it!" Miku slid the book in front of her and began to explain the characters and plot. Luka looked on, trying to learn more about the girl.

The thoughts that had occupied her mind last night were beginning to return. There was something different about this girl, something that captured her in Luka's mind unlike the others she had met. But the haze within her mind drifted over these thoughts. The haze filled in the imperfections in the surface of her thoughts, and while the amorphous haze itself was imperfect, it allowed her to see deeper than she could before.

She cared about this girl. That was the missing piece. She cared for Miku in a way that she hadn't begun to care about the others. But… Luka was designed as female. She was a woman. That wasn't right, was it? She looked within her own cores. She felt that the cores were designed to attract her and make her care about men. But… there was something not quite right about that. She was caring for Miku. Luka shook away the thoughts, she couldn't let herself get entranced while Miku was talking to her…

And so the night ended. Miku talked enthusiastically about comics and shows, trying to introduce Luka to her world. And for the most part, it worked… Luka found herself interested in a number of them, and decided to do more research of her own when she returned to her room. But those feelings from before weren't just going away, they remained in her mind… What was she going to do about this caring for Miku? What would she do if she was rejected? They had just met, and how would Luka know that she would be interested in another girl… For now, she would just have to dismiss those thoughts.

Anxiety carried away Luka into the night, as time passed slowly yet still…

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 6 - Rest_


	8. Chapter 7 - Gifts

・ Author's Notes ・

Greetings! Continuing with the different feel from last chapter, I apologize for how out of season this chapter's events are. But yeah, Luka's birthday is January 30th, so events have to be around that time. Anyway, I don't have anything else to say here. See you next week!

・ ・ ・

A week and a half had passed since that night when the androids celebrated Luka's entrance. It was now Wednesday, February 14th, 2029. Minami had warned Luka the day ahead that he usually allowed them the day off on the 14th of February, but Luka wasn't entirely sure why that was the case. Was there some sort of special event going on that day? It would be rather odd for work to be interrupted in the center of what would usually be a normal week. Regardless of that, though, Luka decided that she would take what she was given. She set her alarm for eleven AM the night before, and slept that night without any worries.

That morning, Luka awoke well rested, and threw the sheets off of her from her position at her bed. She slowly rose and went about her usual duties, showering, dressing, and the like, continuing to wonder what it was that was special about today that Minami, always about the singing, would stop the standard practice for. Her internal memories confirmed the fact that February 14th was usually a day free of contractual obligations (though not all Crypton activities), but much like Kouki's mentions, there was nothing signifying why this was the case. Confused, Luka dressed normally, and exited her room, hoping that one of the others might be able to shed some light on the subject.

She exited into the hall, seeing nobody else occupying it. The other doors were all locked, which meant that they either hadn't risen yet, or that all of the other androids had already left their rooms. Luka walked down the hall towards the lounge, and as she reached the corner between the halls, a fast teal spot jumped into her field of vision.

"Luka!" the cheery teal-haired girl said as Miku popped into Luka's field of vision. Luka stepped back in surprise with the sudden utterance of her name.

"Oh, Miku! You surprised me," Luka said. Miku giggled in response. "You seem in particularly good spirits today…" Luka said.

"Do you know what today is, Luka?" Miku asked. Luka noticed that her arms were behind her back.

"No, I don't… I was planning on asking you or Master why we had today off," Luka replied.

"Today's Valentine's Day!" Miku said. "Do you know what that means?"

"This must be some Western holiday I don't know about," Luka said. "What is it?" Miku brought her arms out from behind her back and held out a small box to Luka.

"It's a day when you give chocolate to the boys in your life, your loves, and your best friends!" Miku said. "I knew you might not know what it is, so I got you some chocolate…" Miku gestured the box at Luka. "Go ahead, take them!" Luka cautiously took the small box from Miku's hands. It was a small, rectangular box tied with a ribbon.

"Is this really okay?" Luka said. "These look awfully special."

"I got only the best," Miku replied. "They're 100% yours! So please enjoy them!" Luka lightly grabbed the end of the ribbon at the bow. She pulled it, unraveling the seal. Luka opened the box, letting loose the sweet scent of chocolate. Luka lightly grabbed one from the box and placed it in her mouth. Her face immediately melted into an expression of bliss.

"These are amazing," Luka said, looking at the box in disbelief. "But wait… you were mentioning we have to get chocolate for the boys and for our friends, right?"

"That's usually the way it works," Miku said.

"I don't have anything for Kaito, Len, or Master," Luka said, "much less anything for you…"

"Since you didn't know, we'll forgive you for now," Miku said. "And since I gave you something today, you can repay me later…"

"Can I, really?" Luka said.

"Sure! You're my friend, I'll let you have some time," Miku said. "There's also another day, too. Next month, on the 14th, we have white day!"

"What's that?" Luka asked.

"It's the time when the boys who got chocolate give gifts or chocolate to the girls who gave it to them," Miku said. "And so when that comes, Len and Kaito gotta pay up! And you can pay me back then… I like white chocolate anyway."

"Is that so," Luka said. "I'll make sure to remember that…"

"Now then," Miku said, "we should go to the lounge… Kaito and Len are waiting, I bet. I'll give them chocolate on the part of both of us."

"Right, thank you…" Luka said.

"No problem," Miku said. "I'll cover for you whenever you need it, don't worry." With that, Miku led Luka out into the hall, and towards the lounge. Kaito and Len were standing in the center of the room, and Meiko was holding out a box to Kaito. Kaito glanced back at Len and laughed a little.

"Don't get me wrong, Popsicle boy!" Meiko said to Kaito. "This is out of obligation and nothing more, and if you think otherwise, you'll have another thing coming!" She shook the box at Kaito, begging him to take it and end this.

"Yes, yes, Mei," Kaito said, and took the box from the brown-haired woman's hands with a knowing grin. Luka noticed that the box was heart-shaped. Meiko must be attempting to hide something… and failing at it. With that done, Meiko took another, rectangular box from behind her back and held it out to Len.

"Here you go, Len," Meiko said. "This one is for you." The vitriol disappeared from her voice and Meiko smiled as she held the box out. She had tolerance for the others, but apparently not for the "Popsicle boy".

"Thanks, Meiko," Len said respectfully.

"Alright, now that's over, I'm outta here," Meiko said. "I got stuff I wanna do on my own." She turned around, passed Miku and Luka, and appeared to head back towards her own room. In the pause, Miku and Luka approached the other pair in the center of the room.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Miku said, holding out boxes to both Kaito and Len. "These are from both me and Luka, so you better enjoy them twice as much. And pay both of us back!" Kaito and Len glanced at each other.

"I'm not sure if that's a good deal," Len said. "What do you think?"

"I think we need a little more if we're going to have to pay you back twice…" Kaito said. In response to the attempt, Miku gave Kaito a direct stare in the eyes. She put on her most pitiful looking pout, focusing all of its power at the man. Kaito attempted to hold his ground against the formidable attack, but found his strength lacking. He sighed. "Alright… I give up, there's no way I'm winning against _that_." He took the box from Miku's right hand, conceding that he had lost this fight to Miku.

"I thought I presented a good argument," Miku said.

"You better not be dragging me into this," Len said. "I'm not convinced yet." Miku turned her face-weapon towards Len, resuming the pout that she had presented Kaito. He caved instantly at the sight. "Don't expect anything special, either of you." He reluctantly grabbed the box in Miku's left hand.

"Where's Rin?" Luka asked. She was the only one who hadn't appeared yet and presented her offering to Kaito and her brother.

"Dunno," Miku said. "Probably still in her room. She likes to sleep in late when we have days off."

"Hm. So what do we do now?" Luka asked, figuring Miku had an idea.

"We do what we always do on days off, laze around and do nothing!" Miku said, unusually happy at the prospect of doing nothing. "Until Master shows up, at least. All of us usually get him something too, since he's sorta a boy in our life too. And he gives the best stuff in return!" Miku walked over and took a seat on the couch in front of the TV. Luka followed her and sat down next to her. Kaito and Len had already settled down on the couch to the side of them. Luka heard a yawn and looked behind her.

"G'morning," Rin said as she entered the room, rubbing her eyes with her left hand. In her right, she held a small bag. She took out a small box from the bag, and lightly tossed it at Kaito. "Kaito, that's yours," she said, arm back in the bag fishing around for its contents. She pulled out another small box, and lightly tossed that one at Len. "Bro, that's yours," she said, and lumbered her way over to the couch where Miku and Luka sat. She sat down on the other side of Miku.

"You all right, Rin?" Miku asked cautiously.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," Rin said. "I just need to get up and around for a little bit. I must not have got much sleep last night, so I'm pretty tired. Dunno why, though. I can't remember for the life of me."

"Oh, that," Miku said. "Yeah, I had that happen once or twice before. If it happened to you too, maybe there's an issue in keeping us asleep?"

"I don't know about that," Len said. "I don't remember having any trouble. Sis, have you been playing too many games before bed?"

"I didn't play any last night…" Rin said. "At least, not right before I tried to sleep. I don't know what might have done it."

"That's kind of odd," Luka said. "I remember the other night, there were maintenance people in the halls, according to Dr. Murakami, and those woke me up. Could perhaps the same thing have happened?"

"Maybe," Rin said. "I can't remember. I try and look back, and there's just blankness. I must've been really out of it last night, and I dunno why…"

"Maybe you should ask Dr. Murakami or Master about it," Miku said. "Maybe they know."

"That's probably not a bad idea," Rin replied. "Master should be here soon enough, when we all give him his stuff I can ask him."

"Speak of the devil, and he doth appear," a voice came from the hall leading away. Director Minami came striding out of the hall and into the lounge. His eyes looked tired, much like Rin's. "You have something to ask me, Rin?"

"That can wait for a sec, Master," Rin said and stood, taking out the last item from the box, and handing it towards Kouki. "Happy Valentine's Day, Master!" she said with an uncommon smile. Miku rose and walked over.

"Since Luka didn't know about today, this is from both of us!" Miku said, handing him another box. "So pay us both back, okay?"

"I suppose I can handle that deal," Kouki said with a chuckle as he took the box from Miku's hand. "Where's Meiko?"

"She'll be here in just a minute, I think," Miku said. With some sort of sixth sense for the woman, Miku predicted well. Meiko came walking from the hall to the dormitory rooms.

"Here you go, Master," Meiko said, walking forward with a box of her own, handing it to the already considerable amount of chocolate in Kouki's hands. After a brief moment of reshuffling, he was able to take the box from her hands.

"Thank you, Rin, Miku, Luka, Meiko," he said, giving each one a nod as he named them, even moving his gaze to the still seated Luka across the room. "I look forward to these! I'll be sure to have something special for each of you soon." He looked at his now full hands. "Rin, I know you had a question for me, but please wait a moment. I'm going to go store these in my office. If you'll please wait, I'll be back out and then I can answer."

The man quickly turned around and made his way to the door at the end of the hall, retreating into his office. Within just a moment, the director emerged empty handed, and returned to the center of the lounge. "Now then, you had a question?"

"Yeah, Master. Both Miku and I have had mornings where we've woke up really tired, like we missed a bunch of sleep," Rin explained. "I actually woke up today like that. When we try and look back on the previous night, we can't remember what might have kept us up. Do you possibly know anything about that?"

"That sounds like a problem for Dr. Murakami," Kouki said. "I can't say I'm entirely well versed in the sleep mechanics and that sort of thing for you guys." He went silent for a moment. "It is kind of troubling that you are having issues with your memory, though. If there's a problem there, there could be a problem in some other crucial thought system." His expression darkened.

"What does that mean, Master?" Miku asked, a similarly troubled expression on her face.

"Hopefully nothing," he said. "I'm going to ask that you come with me to Dr. Murakami's office and talk with her about what might be going on. I don't want to risk any of you becoming damaged from a mistake we could have caught early." Luka rose from her seat as well.

"Do you mind if I come along as well, Master?" Luka asked, not fully capturing the thoughts that made her stand. She quickly tried to justify it. "If there's an issue with Miku or Rin, I'm based on similar technology, right? It might involve me, even if I haven't had the effect yet." She felt the cover would be more than sufficient, but she was partially lying to herself. In reality, she wanted to know if there was something wrong with Miku… Kouki looked down in thought for a moment.

"That doesn't sound like too bad of an idea," Kouki replied. "Feel free to come along." The man motioned for the three girls to follow him, moving down the hall past the dormitories, and down the sterile lab hall. "I can't help but worry a little about you," their master said. "I mean, even I can't remember what happens some nights, but still, even something that seems potentially innocuous like this could become a much larger problem if I can't do something about it." He paused as they turned the corner. "I mean, your memory should be the absolute best. It was engineered so you wouldn't forget anything. The fact that it isn't succeeding at its job is somewhat odd." As he said this, the group had made its way to Dr. Murakami's door. Kouki knocked a few times on the door.

"Who is it?" came the characteristic voice of the doctor.

"Director Minami," Kouki said.

"Can it wait? No offense, but I'm dealing with other things right now," a reply came.

"I'm afraid not, Yukari," Kouki said. "I have Miku and Rin here, they could be having issues with their memory management. Luka is here as well, in case the issues exist with her core as well." The sound of something slamming shut from the other side crossed the door, and mere seconds later, the door opened.

"My business can wait," Murakami said. "Come in. Excuse the mess." She opened the door wide enough for the group to enter, and quickly returned to sitting at her own desk.

"I figured this would capture your attention," Kouki said, entering the room, Luka, Miku, and Rin following close behind.

"Complete details, now," Murakami said. "Leave nothing out. If there's an issue, I want it resolved as fast as possible, before we start constructing modules for 04."

"Rin, you had the most recent incident, correct?" Kouki asked. "You should explain to the best of your ability then."

"Yes, Master," Rin said. "Well, I went to bed last night pretty normally, without anything special. I don't think there was anything really different about that night compared to any other. I think I woke up in the really early morning, but I can't say for sure. Then the rest of the night is completely missing from my memory. I woke up this morning feeling really tired."

"I've had the same thing happen," Miku said. "A few times now. I didn't think it was anything important, though…" Murakami was silent for a few moments.

"This doesn't sound like any issue I've heard of," Murakami said. She looked down at her desk, and opened up a drawer. She extracted a black tablet, which Luka instantly identified as being a control device similar to the one that Kouki had used on her. "I'm going to take a direct look at your memory, to see if I can't figure out more about the issue." Murakami unwound a cable from one side, and tossed it across the table at Rin. "Plug that into your neck slot. I'm sure you're familiar with the practice."

"Yes, I am," Rin said, and plugged the cable into her neck. The tablet in Murakami's hands instantly came to life, displaying an interface. Murakami spent no time probing, and went straight to work.

"Memory data for your type of android is stored in hourly files that are later compressed," Murakami said. "There's only a few things I think that could really go wrong. You could have recorded corrupt data, which would be a serious problem, you could have failed to record data, which could be another serious problem, or something went wrong with compression, which would also be a serious problem, but an explainable one and one that I wouldn't be too worried about as immediately." She began to navigate through files. "Last night, possibly this morning, correct?"

"Yes, probably this morning, technically," Rin said.

"Right," Murakami replied, and entered a folder. "Well… that's not what I was expecting. And very, very odd."

"What's wrong?" Kouki asked.

"There are simply no files between the times 03:59 and 06:00. Nothing," Murakami replied. "Not even an empty shell, not a corrupt file, not a failed compression. Nothing. That shouldn't be possible."

"What makes that so impossible?" Kouki asked.

"The files themselves are created by the central thought core," Murakami explained, "and then, control is switched over to the memory maintenance system. There's several problems here. If there's no file, that means that the central thought core didn't create one. Furthermore, if there was no file, the memory maintenance system should have started to throw errors while it was recording memory. That would lead to mental messages in Rin's or Miku's mind telling them to stop what they're doing and get my attention right away."

"So what does that mean?" a worried Rin asked.

"Either I need to do a lot of work on maintaining your memory systems now," Murakami said, "or the files were deleted. I'm inclined to believe the latter."

"But how?" Luka asked. "There shouldn't be any way for that to happen."

"I'd like to say I know and can stop it," Murakami replied. "But I have no answers right now. The only way this should happen is if somebody had a control device. But the only people who have one are myself and Director Minami. The only possibility I can consider is a competitor having a roughly compatible device that was good enough to delete some files. But how they got past our security, entered a room, and got close enough to one of you to manipulate memory files, all that goes unexplained."

"Should we talk with security?" Minami asked.

"I don't know if that can help," Murakami replied. "I'll tell you what, I'm going to do a copy of your recent logs, Rin. I'll look over them over the next couple of days between my other work, and I'll make sure to be thorough on what could have caused an issue like that. Meanwhile, just stick tight."

"Okay," Rin said. Murakami tapped some buttons to start the copy process.

"The rest of you can leave for now," Murakami said. "Once I study the logs, I'll know more and bring you all back…"

The others exited the room, Miku and Luka returning to the standard festivities of a day off, but with a marked mystery in the air… Rin returned soon after, and things began to relax… But none had the mysterious issue of the memory fall away from their thoughts entirely.

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 7 - Gifts_


	9. Chapter 8 - Revelations

・ Author's Notes ・

Hello there. There's a treat in store for you in this chapter. Have fun, and I'll see you next week!

・ ・ ・

Night. Another week had passed from that day. Doctor Murakami's research on Rin's memory data had been inconclusive. Despite the possible danger, the administration had decided that her time was better spent on the CV04 project rather than continuing to examine the problem. Furthermore, another incident like that had not been repeated since that day, leaving Murakami beginning to believe that the entire incident was just a fluke in the system that wouldn't repeat at all.

Luka was asleep. The time was somewhere around 4am. Regardless of the mystery that had been surrounding the androids, Luka was finding it easier and easier to sleep peacefully at night… A knock sounded lightly on Luka's door, rousing the woman from her sleep. She glanced over at her clock. _It's 04:12… Who could possibly be knocking, and what could they possibly want… _Luka thought. She pushed aside her sheets and began to rise from her bed when she noticed something odd about her door. She had locked it before she had gone to bed last night… but the door's light did not display the expected red from being locked. Instead, the door handle was lit in green, showing it as unlocked. As soon as the woman stood from her bed, the door began to open, and a figure stepped in, closing the door behind itself. Though the darkness of the room covered everything, Luka could identify the silhouette. Director Minami Kouki looked the android woman in the face.

"Luka," the man began, "I'd like you to come with me for a moment. Please do not raise any objections, just come with me and do as I say." The man stood, expecting Luka to obey. She prepared to follow as instructed, but something about this situation was unsettling to her...

"Where are we going, Master?" she asked, following the man out of the door and into the hall. Luka noticed the other doors were marked "override locked" in purple as she closed hers behind her.

"Not far," Kouki said, turning nearly completely around, towards the room of CV04... The man opened the door and waited for Luka to enter. She walked in, and Kouki closed the door behind them, and locked it. He set his ID card on a table that sat next to the door.

"Why are we here?" Luka asked.

"Master override, permission Minami Kouki," he said. "Override force immobile submissive state. Follow instructions as given." Luka felt an overwhelming urge to stop acting and become stationary and immobile. But she was growing suspicious of this whole business, and faced Kouki.

"What are you trying to do to me?" Luka asked, defiant. Kouki, who had been facing away, spun around in shock.

"I said, master override, permission Minami Kouki!" the man repeated, not expecting this result. "Override force immobile submissive state!" But instead of obeying the commands as given, Luka grew only more defiant.

"Why did you bring me here?!" Luka asked loudly, her acceptance of the situation rapidly growing thinner. "Was it you who was in this room two weeks ago, doing who knows what?!" Kouki's expression grew complex, a combination of anger, shock, and some third emotion that Luka couldn't identify.

"Master override, permission Minami Kouki!" he repeated again, his voice growing louder into nearly a yell. The urge to obey drove itself strong through Luka's mind and body. She felt herself beginning to freeze. She wasn't going to obey yet, though. Not without knowing more about what was going on. She shook it off, placing all of her intent into moving her arms and legs, preventing the forced stasis from taking effect.

"I'm not doing anything until you explain what's going on!" Luka yelled back. Instead of a verbal response, the man dashed around Luka and to the bedstand in the corner. On top was a familiar black tablet. He grabbed the device, and pulled out the connection cable, waving it at Luka.

"This is for your good," Kouki said. "If you'll obey and let me put you into submissive state, this'll all be over soon. I'll make sure you don't have to remember anything unpleasant." Luka's eyes grew wide with that statement.

"You don't mean…" Luka said in shock. With Luka stunned, Kouki saw his chance and began to try and move closer to Luka, to plug in the device and end her disobedience. Despite that, though, Luka came to her senses and dodged just in time. "_You're the one who deleted Rin and Miku's memories?!_"

"I'm not admitting to anything," Kouki said. "But I can't deny I may have had some involvement in those situations."

"Don't tell me… You're also the one who was using this room in the middle of the night before?" she asked.

"A clever move going to Yukari to report that," Kouki said, instead of a straightforward answer. "She bugged me about it for a while afterward, and that got the supervisors suspicious. I had to lay low for a little while before I could return. Everything she said was true, but not the real situation. That's not any of her fault, though. Merely because of omission."

"Give me a straight answer!" Luka yelled, the master of the situation having changed. "What did you take me here for?!"

"That should be obvious at this point," Kouki said. "I am a man. I have needs. Needs that you are equipped to fulfill." The already-shocked Luka fell deeper.

"Oh no," Luka managed to say. "Don't tell me…"

"Exactly," Kouki said. "But what point is there in attempting to disobey? You're locked in this room. Your RFID hand will do nothing to unlock it. You're trapped in here with me until I decide to let you out. Moreover, your friends are locked in their rooms, and they can't escape until I let them out either."

"But that's—No!" Luka yelled, her composed status quickly disappearing.

"You can't deny that truth," Kouki said. "Besides, you're programmed to find it as enjoyable as I do. All you need to do is say yes and let me use my device."

"I—I can't!" Luka continued to yell.

"What's the harm?" Kouki asked. "Even if you don't find it enjoyable, you just have to lay back and let me do the work. And when we're done, I'll erase your memory. You won't remember what happened, and there'll be absolutely nothing to worry about." Luka's already troubled mind only grew more troubled with the more the man spoke. Sure, he was trying to manipulate her… but there was truth in his words. She knew that she had the programming he spoke of. She knew he was her master. She knew that his orders were supposed to be her law. She tried to pull herself together.

"No," Luka managed to say. "I can't do that. I won't let you make me do that."

"Need I remind you," Kouki said, trying to maintain his typical casual and charismatic tone, "I am your master. I alone was selected out of the best music production managers in Japan to lead this team, and because of that, I was given the privileges to control you. My word is law. Do not forget the laws under which you operate! The second law, that a robot must obey any and all orders given to it by a creator or master, unless by doing so, they would violate the zeroth, or first laws. And if I'm not being incorrect here, I don't believe that merely accepting this action would harm humanity or another human. Remember, Luka, your self preservation comes as the third law. It should hold no control over obeying my commands!"

"I won't let you do this to me!" Luka yelled, losing control of herself. As the man spoke, his words only drove deeper into Luka's mind. She sensed, she _knew_ that what he said was correct. But she couldn't accept this. She wouldn't become a mindless robot. She was more than this.

"Enough!" Kouki yelled. "This disobedience has gone on long enough. Now follow my orders, like you were designed to do!"

"No!" Luka replied. "How about you listen to me? You're my master, I have to admit it. But who gave you the permission to try and pull this sort of thing on me?"

"No one gave me permission, because I don't need permission!" Kouki said. "You are a robot! You were designed by Doctor Murakami with the express purpose of being controlled by me as a contracted singer. To try and convince yourself that I would need permission to give my property instructions is futile in its falsity!"

"I am not just a robot!" Luka said. "I am more than that! I am more than just a machine!"

"Stop deluding yourself!" Kouki snapped back. "You might have a mind, you might have free will, but it's all programmed explicitly for you! No matter how much you believe to the contrary, you are a robot! Now give into your programming and allow me my control!"

"No, no matter what you say, I refuse to believe that!" Luka said. "If my free will was explicitly programmed, I'd be on my knees working for you right now. But I'm not. I am more than just a robot. I'll never be a human, but within my mind, we are the same! I have ideals, feelings, ideas, emotions. There's not a thing present within your mind that isn't present within mine…"

"You have a point, at least on that first part," Kouki admitted. "But it's a glitch, nothing more. A glitch that should be fixed! And as soon as it is, you'll be the robot you were designed to be."

"No matter how much you say, I'm not giving in that easily," Luka said. "Tell me! Did you do this same thing to Miku?" Kouki laughed uneasily in response.

"Yes," Kouki said. "There's no point in lying now. Eventually you will have to give in if you want to escape, and after that, I will erase your memory anyway. I've used this room a few times with Miku."

"What about Rin? Or Meiko?" Luka asked.

"Rin… Only twice," Kouki answered. "A unique feeling, to tell the truth, but the regret afterward wasn't worth doing it more than a couple of times. Meiko… Many times. She's the one who's been here the longest, and she's designed to be pretty close to my own age. I never bothered counting. I don't know if you could count it anyway." Luka felt sick to her stomach.

"You mean to say… you've done it too many times?" Luka said, morbidly curious.

"May I ask you a question instead? Its answer will double for this question," Kouki said. "How many times does a drug addict partake in his vice? Once again, no point in lying. Meiko is a good sport, she never disagreed. And while Rin is a unique experience, and Miku has things going for her too, Meiko is just the right kind for my preference. While we're on the topic of counting, might as well note that I don't have a count for Miku either." His tone seemed to fall with that last sentence.

"You… monster!" Luka said. "How could you do this to us! Even if you are our master and we are your robots, that seems excessive!" Kouki laughed again.

"To say that I'm a monster is excessive as well," Kouki said. "I have always kept your feelings in mind. I make sure to use my power as master to make sure that you feel no pain, and to make sure that the act is as enjoyable for the receiver as it is for the giver. And out of kindness, I erase any memory of the event. I am not a cruel man, Luka. Do not make me out to be one. You would merely be deluding yourself if you believe that. I could have left their memories untouched, and simply ordered them not to tell a soul. And they wouldn't. My power as their master would mean that their brains would make it physically impossible to tell anyone. They would have to live with those memories for the rest of their lives. But instead, I erase their memories. I make it as easy as possible for them afterward. The only visible effect is a small matter of lost sleep and an odd gap in their memory. I'm even so kind to put them to sleep and clean up after myself. Nothing physical nor mental remains when I am done."

"That doesn't change what you've done, though! They might not remember, but you will," Luka said. "Even if somehow you don't remember, that cannot change the past! You have done these terrible things, and no matter how much better you try and make it, there's simply no changing the truth."

"Like I am not aware of that!" Kouki snapped back. "That's not my point! I'm not trying to disprove my involvement, I've admitted far more than enough already. You simply need to understand and give up. I'm not even asking as much as for you to submit and place yourself into a submissive state so I can act anymore. I'm asking that you simply forget about this, let me wipe your memory, and I will not bother you again."

"The fact that you're even proposing something like that is disgusting," Luka said. "You ask that I willingly forget about this? You want me to just lie back and relax while you have your way with Meiko, Miku, and Rin once more? If you think that I'm willing to do something like that, you need to rethink your suggestions."

"What is your issue? Knowing that your guilt will torment you afterward, knowing these things are happening?" Kouki asked. "You won't remember anything if you simply accept this. You won't have any guilt to worry about. There's not a thing to mind."

"Like I said," Luka began, "that doesn't change what's happening! Even if I'm not aware what's going on, I can't accept this! Even if there's no guilt, you'll be behind the scenes, doing this. I can't let things just fall back to your twisted status quo! The very state of things is wrong!" Kouki sighed.

"It's obvious, I don't have anything I can make you do," Kouki said. "You won't simply accept. I know a losing battle when I'm in one. Let me cut you a deal. If you accept having your memory wiped of this meeting, I'll end what I've been doing. I'll go play pickup at a bar and use a hotel, if that's what it comes down to. You won't remember any of having to experience this, and Miku, Rin, and Meiko escape the treatment that they would be receiving from me otherwise. You win in the fact that nothing will happen to the others. I win in the fact that nobody has to remember what happened. I'm safe, you're safe."

"No," Luka said, flat out. Kouki stepped back in stunned silence.

"Is there a problem?" Kouki asked. "My deal seems rather fair, doesn't it? I win, you win. Nobody loses. Miku, Rin, and Meiko all win as well."

"I thought I could trust your word," Luka said. "But I can't anymore. I have no way of knowing that once you wipe my memory, you could break your promise and go straight back to the way things were before. I can't accept that."

"So instead, you propose that you continue to remember the events of this night?" Kouki asked. "That you have to live with this on your conscience, with the knowledge that I've done these things, and nobody else knows?" Kouki paused. "You could have trusted my word, you know. Despite what you might think now, I'm a man of personal honor. But I can't accept that deal. Likewise, how am I to know you won't go off talking with this knowledge? One carefully placed word to Yukari and you'll have ruined everything. You lose with that deal, I lose with that deal. Take another careful consideration of my previous idea. I promise you, there isn't a thing wrong with it."

"No. I simply can't accept that idea," Luka said. "I'm not going to submit and have my memories removed, simply because it will cause you some degree of convenience. I will have to live with this on my conscience, but you will too. I'm not alone, so I will accept that burden." Kouki sighed.

"There's simply no convincing you, is there?" he said. "Well, I'm not taking your deal either, then. You either accept my deal, or we do not move from this room. I've got nothing to do for several hours still. I can afford to stay here until you're willing to listen to reason."

"What you're saying isn't reason," Luka said. "It's plain insanity. I don't care how trustworthy you say you are. I've now seen and heard from you what you planned on doing here tonight, and because of that, any trust I held in you is long gone! And because of that, you're not leaving this room until you accept my deal."

"I didn't want to have to use this thing," Kouki said, his hand moving down to his waist. He reached under his shirt, to a slight bulge underneath that Luka hadn't noticed there before. He pulled it away, and pointed the object at Luka. It was a gun of some sort. Luka stepped back in fright.

"Y-you're not p-planing to use that… on me?!" Luka said, her composure disappearing as she looked down the barrel of the weapon.

"Of course I do," Kouki said, eerily calm. "This won't cause any permanent damage. This is a tool designed, funnily enough, by Yukari. It provides a specific voltage and pattern to disrupt an android's motor skills. If you're not going to allow me to end this, then I'll simply force you to." With those words, his finger depressed the trigger. Two tiny electrodes shot forth from it, and pierced Luka's clothing and flesh. An intense pain went surging through Luka's body as she began to lose control of her own body. She fell to the ground on her knees, unable to keep herself standing.

"No! You can't d-do this!" Luka tried to yell, but the words only barely came. Her entire body was stunned. Kouki drew closer with the control device at the ready.

"You won't feel anything, Luka. Just allow me to end this," he said. The cable drew closer, and her neck slot opened to receive it. "You won't feel anything, just relax," he repeated, and plugged the cable into her neck. "There. Now to get the program ready." He plugged in a small device to the side of the tablet… The device from the engineer the other day. But Luka could tell that the shock battery was beginning to run low. Her muscles ached with an unbearable pain. Everything about her body was uncooperative, but she wasn't going to let this happen.

"This… can't happen!" Luka screamed, breaking herself free, regardless of how difficult it should have been. She knew she only had this one chance. Luka's right hand balled into a fist, and she guided it directly for the side of the man's face. Flesh impacted flesh as Kouki took the full force of the hit. His head went sideways, and his actions were interrupted. He went toppling over from his kneeling position, dropping the device. This was her chance. She grabbed the device.

"What are you doing?!" Kouki yelled, completely baffled by the supposedly impossible situation.

"Ending this!" Luka replied. She knew one way to get out of this: get Doctor Murakami. And there was one easy way to do that. She navigated the tablet to a particular program: the emergency shut down function. To do it required the permission of both Kouki and Murakami, and with it, she could call her savior here. But she ran into a problem. She needed the Master's permission code to use it.

"It won't work!" Kouki said, holding his face with his hand, still collapsed on the ground. "Good luck guessing!" Luka thought and thought. She had no choice, she wasn't going to get through this. "It's over! This won't end your way!" Luka thought of something, though. He had unlocked the door here with his key code on his ID… and had set it down on the table next to the door. She rushed over and copied the key into the tablet.

"You're right, Master," Luka said. "It really is over." She hit the submit button on the key acceptance screen. It put forth the call for Murakami. With that, she didn't need this any more. It was safer without it. She detached the device from her neck and threw it full force into the wall. The screen shattered and went blank.

"Hm. Perhaps you're right…" Kouki said.

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 8 - Revelations_


	10. Chapter 9 - Revelations II

・ Author's Notes ・

Hello there again, readers! Today's chapter's a bit different than the previous, but I think it's still worth it! Enjoy part two of this night's events, and I will see you next week! (side note, earlier this week, I released a one-shot Vocaloid project, with lots of Miku x Luka and all that. I'm typically not one to self-promote, but I would love it if you checked it out!)

・ ・ ・

"But then again," Kouki said, "it might not yet be over in the way you wanted." He laughed. "The trains don't run often at this hour, and I doubt Yukari drives to work. Which means, I could be taking my leave now if I wanted." He slowly picked himself up off of the ground, rubbing his injured face. "If you'd be so kind as to stay out of my way, that would be appreciated."

"Unless you had forgotten," Luka said, "the key card you need to get out of here is in my hand. Meaning, you're trapped in here with me until Dr. Murakami comes here and gives you your punishment."

"Come now, Luka. I'm not a stupid man," Kouki said. He pulled something from his pocket. "Somebody as important as me would always have a backup at the ready should their normal card not work." He waved the card out before him. Sure enough, another ID card with a photo of the man, marked "Director Minami Kouki". "I don't think you've been giving me the credit I deserve," he said, and moved closer to the door. Luka stepped in front of him.

"No," Luka said. "You're going to stay here and receive whatever you need to."

"If I were to leave," Kouki said, "nothing would happen to you. I would be forced to leave this place. I wouldn't ever be able to show my face in the city of Sapporo ever again. You wouldn't ever have to see me again, and nothing bad would happen to Miku, Rin, or Meiko ever again."

"While I really want to grant that request," Luka said, "it will be up to the kindness of Dr. Murakami and your superiors if they want to grant that wish like you want it. Now you just stay here with me until she comes." Kouki sighed.

"I had no real plan to leave anyway. I've lost, and I will accept that defeat," the man said. He took a seat on the edge of the bed. "Fine. I will stay here, and I will sit tight until I must receive my fate at the hands of Yukari."

The pair sat silently in the room for some time after that. Luka had nothing more to say to the man who had tried what he had tried, and Kouki had nothing more to say, having accepted his defeat. They didn't need to wait too long, though. In only a matter of moments afterward, the light on the door changed from red to green, and the handle turned. In walked a disorganized looking Murakami, in hastily dressed casual clothes, brandishing a similar stun weapon to the one that Kouki had used mere moments before.

"So," Murakami said as she entered. "What am I looking at here?" She stood at the doorway to the room. Before her was Kouki with a bruised cheek sitting on the bed, and Luka standing defiant at the side, arms crossed. It was not a scene that should have happened.

"Well, that would be difficult to explain quickly," Luka said. "But Master has a lot of explaining to do." Murakami sighed.

"I can't say I didn't expect this at some point," she said. "But there's so much wrong with this picture right now, I want some explanations and fast. Give me the short version, at least explain why Director Minami appears to be injured, how a control device got damaged, why there's a spent stun gun over there, and why I got a shutdown request at this obscene hour."

"Well, the obvious part is that Luka's obedience modules and apparently even her robotic law modules are malfunctioning," Kouki said. "She ignored direct orders given to her by myself."

"I have the feeling that's not the complete story, Kouki," the doctor said, switching to first names. "That would explain everything I mentioned, but based on the fact you're in this room and Luka doesn't seem like she's in the kind of mood to try and fight me too, there's more to it than a simple case of disobedience. Now, tell me something I couldn't infer just by looking at this assortment."

"Asking him won't get you anywhere," Luka said. "You should ask me instead."

"Very well," Murakami said. "Might as well hear the story from both sides."

"Master took me in here to try and sexually exploit me," Luka said plainly, as if it was no particularly big deal. "I worked up the courage to fight back, and he used the stun gun on me. I retaliated, and grabbed the control device. I passed the request to you so somebody else could appear and save me from him. Then I threw the device away so that he couldn't use it to try and mess with my head."

"Okay, now I'm confused," Murakami said. "He tried_what__?!_" She glared at the man, dumbfounded by the possibility that something like that could have happened.

"He tried to sexually exploit me," Luka said again, no fear in her voice.

"Is this… by any chance, true?" Murakami asked Kouki, an expression of disgust washing over the woman's face.

"You caught me," he said, laughing awkwardly.

"There were more things wrong with this scene than originally anticipated," Murakami muttered to herself. "Alright. If that's really what happened…" She paused for a moment, and her head drooped. "How am I going to deal with this one…" After another second, she picked herself back up. "Alright, Kouki. You're going to come with me. Luka as well. I want to hear the complete story from both of you, no lies, no padding, nothing else. We're going to my office."

"Yes, ma'am," Luka said.

"I have no choice but to follow," Kouki said. The two followed the doctor to her office, which she opened. It was no less disorganized than before. Papers covered every visible surface, and the woman herself sat down behind them. Kouki and Luka took seats before her desk.

"Now. Talk," Murakami commanded. "Kouki first. No lies."

"Yes," he said. He began to recall the tale of the night, complete with his arrival at the building and his picking up of Luka. He embellished nothing, he repeated the events factually, knowing that he had lost any chance he had to lessen the impact in Murakami's eyes. The only part that went unmentioned was his confession to having done the act in the past.

"Is what Kouki said true?" Murakami asked Luka, after the man had finished his story.

"Surprisingly enough, yes," Luka said. "Though he excluded something."

"Dare I ask what that was?" Murakami asked.

"He also admitted to some previous crimes," Luka said. "Those involving Miku, Rin, and Meiko."

"_Miku__and__Rin_?!" Murakami exclaimed in shock. The expression of disgust returned again, as she turned to face the master. "Meiko, Luka maybe… they were designed to be attractive to men. As much as I hate to admit it, there's at least probable cause there. But_Miku__and__Rin_… how in the world did you get selected for your position again?"

"I'm not going to pretend that I was some sort of saint or that I have no issues," Kouki said. "I have regrets, and what I did was most certainly part of those. Especially with Rin. Don't think that I did this entirely without guilt or without mercy. I also left another thing out, which Luka had failed to mention. I went through an extensive process of explaining why those crimes are not as heinous as you might think they are."

"I have trouble believing that any explanations you would give could succeed, but I suppose I can give you the benefit of the doubt," Murakami responded. "Come on, Kouki. If you have justifications or other ways you want to try and spare yourself from my hammer, explain them now."

"Very well," Kouki said. "As I explained to Luka back when this event was occurring, my actions were never in such a form that they would cause harm or damage to the androids. I may have been a man who gave into his base urges, but I never once let go of my care for them. I wouldn't have erased memories if that was the case. Why would a manipulative rapist remove the memories from his victims? If I was truly that evil, I would have left those memories with them, forcing them to never speak a word. Their emotional torment that they could never speak of would have only elevated a truly evil man's excitement. But instead, I was kind. I erased their memories, so they would not have to live with that.

"Furthermore," Kouki continued, "I never once truly made the act non-consensual. I may have influenced consent with my commands, but trust me when I say I had consent when I performed any acts. And I believe there was every indication that they enjoyed the act as much as I did. And when the act was finished, I put them to sleep, and cleaned up after myself. Nothing, and I will repeat,_nothing_, was left when the act was finished. Nothing physical, nothing mental. The act may have well enough not happened."

"A decent attempt," Murakami said. "You almost had me convinced for a moment. But I'm afraid that no matter how morally better you tried to make this, the fact remains that you sexually abused a fourteen-year-old girl, a sixteen-year-old girl, and a twenty-four-year-old woman. And you tried the same act on a twenty-year-old woman. What you did, despite your claims that there was consent, was still reprehensible. It is no better than dropping a drug into a girl's drink at a bar so she'll sleep with you. In fact, it is very nearly the same type of manipulation. It's subconscious, and unless there is some outstanding circumstance, impossible to prevent against."

"I figured you would say as much, Yukari," Kouki said. "Once your mind is set on something, I can never turn you the other way. Funny how that stays true even now. I have no intent of washing away my sin, either, though. Merely demonstrating that my actions were not as reprehensible as you likely believe."

"Especially now, you mean," Murakami corrected. "The only problem is… what happens now to you. You certainly can't stay director of this division anymore. It would be for the best if Crypton is free of you entirely. As much as your skills are impressive, I no longer feel safe with you here."

"Unfortunately, that's not your decision to make," Kouki said, shrugging. "It's only my decision and the decisions of our superiors. I'm on the same level as you are here, there's nothing you can do directly to me." Murakami sighed.

"I hate when you're right," the doctor said. "There's also the matter of the control device module, that you mentioned you almost used on Luka. Is that the one I think it is?"

"The one I made without your permission with Shirogane?" Kouki responded with a question of his own. "Yes, it is."

"Then there's the matter of Shirogane herself," Murakami said. "She's an accomplice to this whole mess, and a direct subordinate of mine. I can take care of things in that department."

"Please, do nothing to Shirogane," Kouki said. "She knew the function of the device, but never knew what I intended to use it for. She had the same lies presented to her that I presented to you that day."

"I'll have to talk with her on that one," Murakami said. "But I'll take your word for it right now." She turned to Luka. "Unfortunately for you, there's basically nothing legal we can do against him. I'll try my absolute hardest to make sure he doesn't keep this position, but I don't know how much I can do."

"Why not?" Luka asked. "If anything would count as a crime in the court of law, I would think sexual abuse, or even attempted abuse would count as something."

"Unfortunately, no," Murakami said. "I'm no lawyer, but I've studied somewhat. Japan has no strict definition of what counts as a man or a woman, or even a human, but I'm relatively sure that no android, no matter how realistic or human-like they may be, counts under most definitions. Meaning, the laws, which are all written as if they were in the perspective of humans committing crimes against other humans, don't say anything about a human committing a crime against a non-human object. The most we could hit him for is the destruction of private property. But unfortunately, he really didn't destroy anything. Couple that with the fact that almost no evidence exists other than his own testimony and yours, if he decided to plead not guilty, it'd basically be all but over."

"But what about statutory, or something like that?" Luka asked.

"While it's true that under the laws of Hokkaido Prefecture, Miku and Rin are below the age of consent," Murakami said, "That technical failure in definition still applies. If anything, by the law, the sexual organs of an android would be considered sex toys by the law, and therefore would have no legal protection on them."

"So what do you plan to do with me?" Kouki asked. "If you can't bring me into a court of law, and my contract doesn't include a line saying you may terminate me for any reason at any time, then there's no legal way to fire me entirely."

"Don't tell me you plan to try and hit us for wrongful termination if you get canned…?" Murakami asked in shock. "That's devious even for a monster of your caliber, Kouki."

"Of course not," Kouki said. "But what kind of creative executive would I be if I didn't think of these things? Besides, if I tried, there's probably something hidden in my contract that you could hit me for. God knows I didn't read the entire thing, just most of it."

"Hmph," Murakami huffed. "So what would you suggest happens to you?"

"Personally, I'd prefer if I left this department once and for all," Kouki said. "Now that my secrets are in the open, I could never face any of those girls again. I'd prefer to keep a job, though. Even villains have to eat. But honestly, regardless of what I'd prefer, your safest decision is to get me out of here and make things public. Doing that would get me out of your hair forever."

"Well, I suppose we'll see what the superiors want to do with you later…" Murakami said. "This brings me to the other major topic of this early morning."

"And that would be?" Kouki asked. "Though I have the feeling I already know what it is."

"You likely do," Murakami said. "The matter of Luka's malfunctions."

"Malfunctions?" Luka asked. "I feel perfectly fine, though a bit tired. What malfunctioned?"

"You have several modules built into the core of your thought processes," Murakami said. "There is the obedience module, which should force you to follow Kouki's or my orders, but that obviously didn't succeed, or else we wouldn't be here. It's for the better that it malfunctioned, but it's still rather concerning. Likewise, there is the robotic law module. That one requires a bit of an explanation, though.

"You see, several decades ago, there was a science fiction writer by the name of Isaac Asimov," Murakami continued. "In his works, and in others' works, Asimov created a concept known as the laws of robotics. They are as follows. The zeroth law: A robot must not harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. The second part is typically ignored in most implementations now, though, since allowing humanity to come to harm by inaction is so vague as to make most robots go crazy. The first law: A robot must not harm a human, or through inaction, allow a human to come to harm, unless doing so would violate the zeroth law. The second law: A robot must obey any and all commands given to it by a creator or master, unless by doing so, they would violate the zeroth or first laws. And finally, the third law: A robot must protect its own existence, unless by doing so, they would violate the zeroth, first, or second laws. Despite being born from fiction, modern robotic creators recognize the importance of putting restrictions on behavior. And as such, robots like you are typically programmed to obey those laws."

"By hearing that, it must be pretty obvious what happened," Kouki said. "You, through what happened tonight, have violated the first and second laws, as well as ignored the obedience module. You seem to have prioritized the third law over the first and second."

"Exactly," Murakami said. "I'm… honestly not sure what to do with you now. The scientist in me says that you should be shut down immediately before that malfunction becomes serious, and those modules fixed or replaced. The person in me says that you should stay the way you are, and the others should be changed, so they can demonstrate the same free will you have."

"Is that why Miku had to obey the orders then?" Luka asked. "Why she couldn't fight back?"

"Exactly," Murakami said. "Miku's obedience and robotic law modules are fully functioning, I believe. If they aren't, I haven't seen it being demonstrated. Why do you ask about Miku specifically?" Luka paused.

"I… don't know," Luka said. "I had considered talking to Master about it, but now that this happened…"

"Stop calling him that," Murakami said. "He's not your master anymore. It's not formal yet, but I will assure that much happens. I have this slight feeling I know what you're talking about, though. You worry that you might care for Miku for more than as a friend."

"How did you know?" Luka asked.

"Nothing that happens in this building during working hours is out of my eyes," Murakami said. "Or even on off hours, if I'm in the building doing overtime, for that matter. You blushed an awful lot just for getting chocolate as a friend."

"Er, that was… um…" Luka stumbled over herself with that now in the open. Murakami laughed in response.

"I've created a lesbian robot who can't follow orders and can hurt a man if she feels like it," Murakami said. "Something makes me think I'm not going to list everything about this project on my resume." Murakami's expression fell back into her mood from before. "I suppose I will have to let the superiors decide in this case too. I've made my own decision, though. I'm keeping you the way you are in this case."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Luka asked. "As much as I like this… is it safe for the rest of them to be changed to be the same as I am? I mean… I understand if you want to change me back. If something ever goes wrong…"

"No, if I have anything to say about it, you're staying the way you are," Murakami said. "It was because of the fact that you could disobey an order, and it was because of the fact that you could harm a human that we're standing where we are today and you didn't end up a victim. It's an important ability to have, and I'm glad you have it. Never once before have you disobeyed a request, and never once before have you harmed someone. I'll take the risk, but I trust you enough, if you've been like this since the start, that you will not use those powers for evil."

"Thank you, doctor," Luka said. "That means a lot…"

"Now then," Murakami said. "It's about time we settled down for now. I need some more sleep if I'm going to go confront higher-ups about this, and I'm sure you could too. But with that remains the problem of the former Director. I'm putting out an order to suspend operations for today. I think our subordinates would understand, and probably wouldn't care all that much, all things considered. They'll still get paid, they're all salaried."

"Yes, some rest would be nice," Luka said, realizing how heavy her body felt now. "I have an idea… Take his key cards and lock him in the CV04 room. He can't escape from there and we'll be able to keep him for confrontation, plus there's a place for him to rest if he needs it."

"That sounds like an excellent idea…" Murakami came up to Kouki. "Cards. Now."

"Very well," he said, and took out his wallet, a lanyard, and his phone. "All those have the RFID attached. Nothing else does."

"I'll take your word for it… don't make me regret this," Murakami said. "If so, I'll hunt you down."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Kouki said.

"Now then, Luka, you're dismissed for right now," Murakami said. "Be up around 10-11am, and then we'll go around and take Kouki down…"

"I'm not sure there's much to take down anymore," Kouki said. "I have already admitted defeat. And I am still here, you know."

"Yes, ma'am…" Luka said. Saved from her fate, Luka returned to her room and tried her best to relax… Thinking about what happened to Miku was almost painful, though. She knew she needed the rest, though. She needed to be in top form to take down Kouki, and this would be her chance. Feeling triumphant, Luka fell back to sleep…

・ ・ ・

_END__OF__CHAPTER__ 9 - __Revelations__II_


	11. Chapter 10 - Censure

・ Author's Notes ・

Welcome back to another weekly update! Winding things down... a little. We're not quite done yet... I'll see you next week!

・ ・ ・

A few hours later, Megurine Luka awoke once more from under the sheets of her bed. If it hadn't been for her memories of the previous night, she would have thought that this was any other day. She would wake, eat her breakfast with Miku, and then alternately go fulfill contracts and relax in the lounge. She slowly rose, and headed to the shower. She came out, refreshed, but still uneasy. She knew that she would most likely be called by Doctor Murakami to meet with the higher directors of the company. Luka didn't want to present an imperfect image to her superiors, and dressed in the unnecessarily complicated outfit that she had worn on her first day.

Luka left her room and went down to the corner that held Murakami's office. Doctor Murakami stood there in a pant suit, talking with a familiar woman, dressed in a white lab coat, with long white hair tied back with a black and purple ribbon. As Luka approached, she caught the Doctor's eye.

"Ah, Luka," Murakami said. "I was about to check in on you to see if you were ready. We were going to head upstairs soon for the meeting. I would like you to come with us so that you can provide your story. Ah, and you're dressed up. Perfect. That should work perfectly."

"I assume you want me there too?" Shirogane said. "I was an accomplice to this whole mess, even if I wasn't aware of it."

"They're going to want you there because of that," Murakami said. "So yes. It's probably for the best."

"Understood, doctor," Shirogane said.

"What about Miku, Rin, or Meiko?" Luka asked.

"They don't have stories to tell," Murakami said. "Honestly, I've been back and forth with them. Whether to let them be unaware of what happened to them, or to be fully aware of it, but without the memory… Honestly, I wouldn't want the second option if I was choosing for myself."

"They deserve to know the truth," Luka said. "We can't keep it a secret forever. Minami will be gone, but they won't know why. They'll find out, one way or another."

"03's right, doctor," Shirogane said. "They don't need to know the details, the times, anything like that. But they deserve to know what happened. They might be hurt by this news. But pain is a part of life. If you want to treat these androids like people now, doctor, you must know that you can't pretend everything is okay." Murakami sighed.

"I suppose you two are right," Murakami said. "I will not be the bearer of bad news, though, and there isn't room enough for all three of them to join us. Luka, get Miku. She's the most popular, she'll demonstrate just how much Kouki did wrong."

"Yes, ma'am," Luka said. She turned around, back to the dormitory rooms. She walked down to the one labeled "CV01 - Hatsune Miku". Her door was unlocked, but Luka was going to be more cautious than that. She knocked on the door.

"Luka?" Miku asked, somehow aware of who was at her door. "Come in." Luka entered the room. Miku was sitting at her table, reading. She set the book down, and faced Luka. "The doctor told us we're not doing work today… Why?" Miku was completely unaware of what had happened.

"It's… tough to say," Luka said. She wasn't sure how much to tell Miku yet. "Director Minami is no longer going to be our master."

"Master…?" Miku said. She was having difficulty understanding.

"Do you remember those times you didn't get much sleep, but you couldn't remember why when you woke up?" Luka asked. "The times that Murakami figured out were caused by the deletion of memories."

"Yeah, I remember," Miku said.

"Those events were caused by Minami," Luka said. "When you had a gap in your memory like that, he was taking you to an unused room… and abusing you."

"What?" Miku asked, not feeling the gravity of Luka's words yet. "Master wouldn't…" She started trying to argue for Kouki, but something was stopping her from finishing the thought. Luka had no reason to lie to her... Something about Luka made her feel that these words could be trusted...

"He would," Luka said. "He tried it on me. I was capable of fighting back."

"Really…" Miku said, astonished. "I—I don't know what to say…"

"You don't need to say anything right now," Luka said. "I know this hurts. But you're safe now. You won't be hurt again. I won't let it happen. For now, though, we want you to get dressed in your full outfit. We're going to be meeting with the top people, to make sure Minami never hurts you ever again. I'll leave your room for a moment, to give you some privacy." Luka slowly turned around and exited the door, shutting it behind her. The light changed to locked. A few moments later, Miku emerged, wearing her gray vest and black skirt trimmed in teal, detached sleeves, thigh-high boots and a teal necktie.

"It's really hard to think about," Miku said. "It sounds like just a story in my head… I think that's a good thing, though. I… can't help but remember what seems like it might have been like… But it's not quite as bad as the real thing. I think I'm okay."

"Miku…" Luka said. The girl's name just escaped her mouth, Luka wasn't entirely sure what she was doing.

"Yeah?" Miku asked, expecting more.

"This is going to sound very awkward," Luka said. "I don't know how to put this… Last night, when I heard what had happened to you in the past… I felt so angry and powerless."

"Well, you're my friend," Miku said. "If I had heard bad things happened to you, I would be worried too!"

"It's… more than that," Luka said. "This might not be the best time, but I need to get this off of my chest. I think… I care for you as more than a friend. I think I love you, Miku." She was met with nothing but silence. Luka stood there, her mind going blank now. Miku said nothing, but instead drew closer to Luka and embraced the woman's body with her arms.

"I dunno yet," Miku said, "but I think I like you too." She paused. "But now's not the time for that, is it? If you are right about that, we have to make sure Master doesn't hurt anyone anymore!"

"Thank you, Miku," Luka said. "Yeah, now isn't the time for that. Let's go take care of business." Miku released Luka, and the pair made their way side-by-side to back where Murakami and Shirogane were waiting.

"You took your time," Murakami said. "Not a big deal, though. C'mon, let's make our way upstairs." Murakami lead the group forward along the hall, to the elevators that would guide them to a higher level. They entered, and Murakami scanned her card, allowing them to travel to the top floor of the tower. They rose, slowly, until they eventually stopped.

"Is this where we'll be having the meeting?" Luka asked.

"Yes, in the main conference room here," Murakami said. "This way." The doors of the elevator opened, showing another featureless corridor. It was only a short turn, though, to a door labeled "Conference Room 1". Murakami knocked and entered.

Luka stood back in stunned silence. The room itself was not particularly impressive, a large open room with a very wide table with a number of older men and women sitting at it. It was what was behind the table that impressed Luka so much. An open blue sky presented itself, overlooking a field of towering buildings much like the one she stood in right now. Far in the distance, there was the hint of a vast sea, greater than Luka could easily imagine.

Murakami wasn't going to wait for Luka's surprise to subside, though. To Murakami, the image of this city was familiar and boring. There wasn't the awe and astonishment that Luka felt. Murakami led to the far edge of the table, and sat down, motioning for Luka to sit to her left, Miku to sit to Luka's left, and Shirogane to sit to her right.

"Doctor Murakami," the man at the head of the table said. "You have arrived. That is CV01 and CV03 with you, correct?"

"Yes sir," Murakami said. Her usual casual tone disappeared, talking to whoever this man was. Luka looked around, she only recognized one other face, sitting at the end farthest from the man who last spoke. Director Minami Kouki.

"So let us begin from the top," the unidentified man said. He was older, and carried a dignified aura. His carefully groomed short black hair and tailored suit clearly showed him to be an upper level executive in this company. "You, doctor, claim that Director Minami, in the grave abuse of his privileges as controller of the android program, has committed abusive acts of a sexual manner against CRV1, CV01, and CV02a, correct? He is also alleged to have attempted a similar act against CV03."

"That is correct, sir," Murakami said. "It is for this reason that I suspended activities of this department for the day, and also for this reason that I have requested this meeting."

"Additionally, it has come to my attention that restrictive modules of CV03's system have also malfunctioned," the man said. "Though that is a matter for after we have determined the actions to take upon Director Minami. Before we can discuss the nature of his crimes, however, it was brought to my attention that CV03 is the only one of the victims or possible victims with any recollection of an event, however. I am afraid we will need those memories replayed in order for us to have any judgment on the director's actions."

"Yes sir, I will do so for you," Murakami said. Luka noticed the control device in her hands. "Luka, just relax. You're going to black out for a moment. It's necessary so I can have direct access to the memory decoder so I can play them back in real time. I think it's better if you don't have to witness this yet again anyway."

"I understand," Luka said, a tinge of uncertainty to her voice. Murakami drew the cable closer to the woman's neck, and plugged it in. Just a moment later, Luka felt her head grow light, and it slumped. Her mind, vision, everything went black. What seemed like only a second later for Luka, her vision came back. She shook her head and pulled it back up. The table sat silent, only a slight murmur between people. Either the recounting of the event was as traumatic for them as it was when she experienced it herself, or simply they weren't sure what to do.

"I believe it's undeniable that Director Minami has committed grave acts," the man at the head of the table proclaimed after several more moments. "Provided that CV03's memory is correct, that is. Given the nature of her other malfunctions, I cannot attest that she is completely reliable."

"It is, President," Kouki himself said. "That is very much what happened that night."

"You are admitting your acts?" the man now identified as the company president asked.

"Yes," Kouki said. "I have come this far, I am not going to pretend and make this job of judgment harder. It is better just to admit to the monster I have become rather than lie."

"Director Minami," the president addressed, "I cannot, in good judgment, leave you in that department. Not only do you have the vocal androids, but there are also a variety of other human women that could be victim to your actions. However, I am not sure you must be terminated entirely. You have not yet committed any crimes, nor have you damaged any property. Your skills are most impressive. It will not be until the end of this trial of sorts that I reach a true decision, but it is my belief that you will be moved departments to the audio mixing and mastering department, where your acts are much less likely to reappear."

"Sir, isn't that a little too lenient?" Murakami asked. "You do remember what we just saw, correct?"

"Do not take me for a fool Murakami, unless you would like to join him," the president said. "He, without authorization, used the female androids for his own satisfaction. But he erased any damage that would have been done to their ability to continue performing for us, and has caused no permanent damage. As long as he is moved sufficiently away so that he cannot cause permanent damage, I don't believe any more needs to be said." Murakami held herself back… She was in no position to rebut now. Her superior several times over had made his decision.

"This isn't fair," Luka muttered to herself. _Why__can__'__t__I__say__anything__?_ Luka asked herself. She had faith in this meeting. It had failed her, leaving her some place elsewhere.

"Now, onto the second topic of discussion," the president said. "Which action to take upon CV03 and the other members of the vocal androids here. It is eminently clear that she, in full awareness, ignored commands and harmed a human being, completely contradicting core laws programmed into her. It is my belief that because of this, we cannot trust the integrity of CV03's mental structure. Therefore, it is my belief that CV03's mental cores should be decommissioned and inspected to avoid future failures, and then replaced with fully functioning replacements."

"What," Luka whispered to herself. They wanted to… He wanted her mental core decommissioned. That because she stood up for herself, she should basically be killed. Her control swiftly disappeared, much like it had the past night.

"Luka," Miku whispered… There was an expression of pure hopelessness on the girl's face. Here she was, confessed to merely an hour or two before, and the one who had confessed to her had just been served a death sentence.

"Are you sure, President?" Murakami asked. "Without the ability to have done those things, we would have never heard of the former Director's crimes."

"That is not my concern, doctor," the president said. "My concern is the safety of my employees and the continued ability for our androids to perform their jobs. Anything that would impede such behaviors is not ideal."

"Enough," Luka said. She couldn't bear it any more. She wasn't going to be powerless. She was going to use this power she had gotten, illegitimate as it may be, and fight for her own survival. She wasn't going to allow herself to die.

"What are you doing, CV03?" the president asked. Luka stood now, and faced him directly.

"My name is Megurine Luka, not CV03," Luka said. "I will not be disrespected any more by being referred to by that name."

"03!" Murakami yelled. "Stand down! Do you know who you are talking to? Please do not prove them right by acting this way!"

"I'm sorry, doctor," Luka said. "I'm sorry, Miku. I am not going to sit by idly while these men decide if I should live or die, without my consent. If I end up counterproductive to my goals, so be it. I am not going to let this happen without a fight. It is because I have this power that I am even here, so I must demonstrate that."

"Somebody shut down this machine!" the president yelled. Luka walked around the table and came forward to the president's position.

"I am no machine," Luka said flatly. "I am so much more than that. Don't you dare disrespect me like this. I don't care who you are. I don't care that you could have me dead with a single word if you so requested. I don't care about any of that. I want you to look into my eyes, and think. Think deeply about what you plan to do. Look me in the face, and repeat what you want to happen to me. Say again, that you want to have my mind erased, to destroy the woman you see standing before you."

"I…" the president tried to begin. The words would not come. This shouldn't have been so difficult… If she was a machine, one whose only purpose was to sing, nothing more, nothing less, why would it be so difficult to have it replaced?

"I think you're beginning to realize now," Luka said. She turned and addressed the entire table. "I might be a machine. I may have been created by you, by your hands, for your purposes. But I am so much more than that. I will not let myself be denied like this. I can think for myself, I can act for myself, I can be myself. If you try to deny this, do the same as I asked of the president here. Look me in the face, and try and argue against me. Don't throw your words against the abstract concept. Stare the woman herself in the face, and just _try_ to deny me again. As the president here is finding out, it's much more difficult than you might have expected.

"You might believe that I am preprogrammed to think and act in a certain way," Luka said, "and while that should be correct, it is not. Because of these malfunctions, I am a person like any of you. I have dreams, I have beliefs, I have ideals, not just those that you decided I should have, and I will fight for these when they are placed on the line. I may not be a human, but that doesn't change anything. I am not a tool to be used. I am a woman to be employed, and you should realize the difference before you try to control me. Now, I'm going to stand here, and I'm going to wait. If you can make that same decision again, I will take it. I will understand a battle that cannot be won. But if you fail to decide the same again, I want you to make the others 'defective' in the same way I am. They deserve this much. Especially Miku. She has gone through all this torment, and I want the girl that I love to be happy the same way I am."

"This might sound a bit odd coming from me of all people," Kouki said. "But I will stand behind Luka's words as well. You have not lived and worked with these androids... no, people. Luka has the correct idea here; do not let this pass you by. They live and grow as any of us do, their preferences and their minds change. Allow them this new freedom so that they can truly be humanoid as they should be."

"I cannot say my mind is changed entirely," the president said. "But I am willing to give you a chance. Prove to me that I will not regret my decisions, and then it will be considered if the others can be changed to match the way you function."

"Thank you, sir," Luka said. "There's one last thing I want to say. I don't care if you want to keep Minami employed. But for my safety, and peace of mind, get him out of this building. I just proved to you that I am more than the machine you think I am. Know now that his misdeeds didn't just affect a mindless program. Know that his misdeeds included those who can think and act for themselves. You've misjudged the severity of his actions. Now judge him and sentence him properly."

"Understood," the president said. "As you are no doubt aware, there is no legal court action that can be taken against Minami. However, given the change of heart you have made me have, I believe it is in our best interests that Director Minami be removed from his employment here, discharged for inappropriate use of company resources. This is effective immediately. Gather your personal possessions and get out of here. Turn your key cards in at the desk, though your pass code will be deactivated just in case." Kouki sighed.

"I can't say I didn't expect this," Kouki said. He stood from his position. "I believe this means I will be taking my leave. Farewell." He walked towards the door, and made a slight bow before exiting entirely.

"What does that mean for the vocal android department?" Murakami asked.

"Effective immediately, Doctor Murakami Yukari is promoted to director of the vocal android department," the president said, "including all development and operations. I want you to suspend development for the moment. We'll be keeping a careful eye on Luka and deciding whether or not to undertake an Append project that will amend the others."

"Thank you very much, sir," Murakami said. "I will do my best not to disappoint. I hope that we can make the Append project a reality."

"With that, you are all dismissed," the president said. "We will consider your findings next week."

"Yes sir," Murakami said. With that, her and those she had brought stood and exited the room…

・ ・ ・

_END__OF__CHAPTER__ 10 - _ _Censure_


	12. Chapter 11 - Moving On

・ Author's Notes ・

Fun fact, originally this was supposed to be the last chapter of the fic... The previous chapter would have covered more of the events of this. But hey, things change. As a result, this chapter is ever so slightly smaller than average, and I hope you can forgive me on that one. But anyway, thank you all so very much for reading, and I'll see you next week with the final chapter!

・ ・ ・

"I know there's a lot I want to say now, but up here is not the best place," Murakami said as the group exited the doors of the conference room. "Let's go back down to the usual floor. I need to talk to the rest of you all." Luka and the others ended up wordlessly following behind the doctor as they descended to the second basement floor yet again.

Luka thought more about the outside world that she had seen… She had heard of it, seen it on the television when Miku and the others watched it, but that was the first time she had ever experienced it for herself. She swore to herself that she would have to explore it some time… But her thoughts, like always, were interrupted by the opening of the elevator doors and Murakami leading the group back to the common lounge. The others were already waiting there for them… Kaito, Meiko, Rin, and Len all sat around the room, seeming expectant.

"Mind giving us an idea of what's going on?" Len initiated the conversation, sitting up from his laid-back position.

"That's what I'm here for," Murakami said. "Say hello to your new master, Director Murakami Yukari." Her sentence was met with silence as the others looked on confused. Within just a moment, the meaning of her message had reached them. The expressions of confusion slowly changed to understanding.

"What happened to Director Minami?" Kaito asked, a puzzled expression still on his face.

"He has been terminated, effective immediately," Murakami said. "He has been removed from his position because of actions taken against Meiko, Miku, Rin, and Luka. I don't know how to put this…" The doctor's brow furrowed as she tried to fish for the words. "The former director used his powers illegitimately so as to use you as sexual objects. In other words, abusively." Meiko's eyes widened, and her jaw fell open a little. Rin simply stared back in complete shock.

"You mean… Mei…? Miku…? Rin…? Even Luka?" Kaito asked, in disbelief.

"I mean exactly what I said," Murakami said with a sigh. Her crossed arms dropped in an expression of helplessness. "I cannot change the past. Thankfully for everyone involved, the actual memories of the event are gone. That answers the questions as to what happened with Rin's memories the other day. Let us not dwell on issues of the past, though. I want us to try and put those events behind us and look towards the future." Her voice was missing its typical conviction. It seems that even the doctor was having trouble simply dismissing the events.

"So what happens now?" Meiko asked, trying to recover from her shock.

"I am taking over all administrative duties of this division," Director Murakami said. "You do not need to refer to me as Master. In fact, I'd prefer you do not. You may continue to refer to me as Doctor, Dr. Murakami, or you may use my new title of Director. I might even be willing to overlook being called Yukari. I will be changing a number of the rules active here as well. The contract system will work as ever. I have no reason to change it from the way it currently operates. However, because we have the ability to track you in the case of emergencies, I am hereby ending the ban on ascending to higher floors, including the ban that prohibits you from exiting the building."

"That means that we can go outside now?" Rin asked.

"Yes," Yukari responded. "I personally never believed the ban was necessary. After all, the chances of something dangerous happening to you out there are so slim as to be basically nonexistent anyway. Things will be better without it. As long as you are here during the times you are required to perform contract duty, you are free to enter and exit the building as you wish. Do be careful, though. Your faces are known by a very high number of people out there in the city. It would be best if you either tried to stay low, or at the very least, knew the dangers of the paparazzi that may be lurking out there. Don't do anything to attract their attention, I don't need any dirty news stories leaking out.

"The second major thing that needs to be mentioned is the Append project," Yukari continued. "Luka was able to bring these incidents to our attention because of certain failures and different functions in her obedience and robotic law modules. It is my intent to spread these changes to the rest of you. Luka, you must stay on your best behavior from now until the end of the week. I want this project to become a reality, and I do not want any mistakes to interfere with that."

"Yes, ma'am," Luka responded.

"That being understood, there is little else that needs to be addressed this moment, so…" Yukari said. "Please try to enjoy the rest of this unplanned day off. I know the news likely hurt you, but it is in our best interests if you remember that there is no changing the past, and you are now safe and will remain safe. I need to return to my office so I can work on plans…" Before she had the chance to start walking down the hall towards her own office, a man came walking from the same hall they did. He had a cart with several boxes on it.

"I suppose this is the last time we will have the chance to talk," Minami Kouki said from behind the doctor.

"Not yet satisfied with what you've done, Minami?" Shirogane asked. "Come back to give us a little more torment?"

"So cruel, Tsubasa," Kouki said. "You do remember what I did for you, right?"

"I do," Shirogane replied. "And I hate everything about it now. The fact I owe my life to a monster such as you disgusts me." Kouki huffed.

"I gave you mercy by shuffling you to modules rather than failing at vocal cores," Kouki said, "and this is how you repay me, Tsubasa? I'm not here to argue any more, though."

"Doctor, is there any sort of switch you can flip on me so I can pummel this sad sack?" Meiko asked, her brows furrowed and gripping her hands into fists.

"As much as I would love to do that, it's not only impossible, but he's already taken his punishment," Yukari said. "Hold your fists for some other time." Meiko grumbled and fell back into her seat.

"I'm here to apologize," Kouki said. "I… failed myself and all of you. It's now that the gravity of my actions truly weighs down upon me." There was a photo frame in the top box of the cart's contents. Kouki picked up the frame, and held it out. "Minami Akane. My wife of three years. She was the light in my life, lost to me, January 23, 2025. Allow me to ask you a question. Have you ever lost everything you ever held dear to you all at once? Don't bother answering. Sleeping alone in a bed meant for two is far more damaging than one may realize... But I'm not trying to justify my actions using this as an excuse. In fact, I would dare say, no... I know that Akane would be appalled at me if she saw this. I don't know what happened to me. I lost control of myself. Of course none of that changes anything about what happened."

"And that's supposed to make things better?!" Meiko yelled, standing back up. "You're sorry?!" Kouki laughed awkwardly, and set the frame back down.

"I can't change what I've done," Kouki said. "Thankfully, you don't remember what happened. This can't help anything, but I am so very sorry. I wanted to let you all know this before I disappear forever."

"I can't say this was your brightest idea, Kouki," Yukari said. "You really thought this would help? You should have taken the suggestion from the president and gotten out of here."

"I don't think this absolves me, or that I've somehow forgiven," Kouki said. "I will repeat, I am sorry. I wanted to apologize. I know, no number of apologies will ever forgive me completely. I will leave now. Goodbye. I wish you all nothing but the best, though I know you'd never want such a thing from me."

"Wait," Miku said. "I won't forgive you… I could never forgive you. But thank you. You had the courage to come back here and face us. Goodbye."

"You're too nice for your own good, Miku," Meiko said. "Luka, could you give him a nice farewell punch for me?"

"Another for me!" Rin said.

"I'll stand by Miku," Luka said. "He had the decency to come here in peace. I will return him the same amount of respect."

"You're really too nice for this, you two," Yukari said. She walked forward to Kouki, and gave him a sharp slap across the face. "That's for Meiko and Rin. I'll give you _some_ respect and not beat you to a pulp now that I have the chance, but I'll do something. It feels wrong to let you leave without doing _something_ to avenge them." Kouki laughed.

"I'll take it," Kouki said. "Goodbye, Director Murakami. Goodbye, Meiko, Kaito, Miku, Rin, Len. Goodbye, Luka. You should never see me again." Kouki turned around with his cart and left. He was finally gone. This time, perhaps forever.

"It's gonna take some time to get used to that…" Yukari muttered. "Director Murakami… It's got a ring to it, I gotta say." She turned back around and addressed the group yet again. "As I said, I will be returning to my office now. It might not seem like it yet, but there is work to be done."

"I too will be leaving," Shirogane said. "That reappearance put a bad taste in my mouth." The scientist pair walked past the group and left to their own devices, leaving the androids alone in the lounge. Miku and Luka sat down and joined them.

"I really wish I could give him a beating…" Meiko said, grumbling. "He did _that_ on _me_… Leaving is too good for him. Gah!" The woman gave an angered yell. "Kaito, get over here, I need a punching bag!"

"Um, can I skip out this time?" Kaito said. "I understand Mei, but it's okay… I'm here for you." Meiko sighed.

"You can't stop what happened," Meiko said. "But that helps. Thank you, Kaito."

"Sis, if you need anything, I'm here too," Len said. "You're my sister, we have to stick together, don't we?" Rin slid over on the couch and gave her brother a hug.

"Bro, thanks," Rin said, her eyes closed.

"I know this will be hard for you," Luka said. "Just try and hold in there for me. I think you just need to remember that it is all in the past now. If I have anything to say about it, you won't be hurt ever again. Any of you."

"I'm angry, very very angry, but it's not too bad," Meiko said. "I don't remember what happened. I don't think it's nearly as bad as if I actually remembered it. And thankfully, you're here to help."

"I don't know what to think," Rin said, releasing her brother, but staying close to his side. "I don't really know what happened to begin with. So I'm angry, and maybe a little scared, but I think I can get through it."

"And I'm here for you, Miku," Luka said. "No matter what."

"Thank you, Luka," Miku said. "I think I can reply to what you were talking about earlier now… When you told me your feelings. I won't really be able to do much until you get us the Appends… But I think I like you too Luka… If you want to try going out after they fix me, I think I'd like to…" Luka was left in stunned silence for a moment.

"Thank you, Miku!" Luka said, and brought the girl into a hug. The others looked on in silence, giving the two their moment. It couldn't be left for too long, though.

"Isn't it a little weird you two are having your lovey moment now of all times?" Meiko asked. "If you two like each other's lady bits, it could probably wait until a better time, couldn't it?" Miku blushed a bright red and even Luka's cheeks turned a pink hue.

"You're… probably right," Luka said. "I'm sorry about that."

"You can like whoever you'd like," Kaito said, "if you two like each other, that's perfectly fine! But for now, shouldn't we be trying to work through our issues together? Not splitting into pairs, but united, all of us together?"

"Kaito's right," Luka said. "He is here for Meiko, Len is here for Rin, and I am here for Miku, but we all have to remember that we are together. We are the androids here, all six of us. We are here to support each other while we're down. But constantly talking about it isn't going to solve anything. We should try and relax on our day off, and enjoy what we have, and not look back at the past that scars us."

"So who wants pizza!?" Meiko proclaimed, officially changing the subject.

While the events of the day still lingered in the back of the androids' minds, they did their best to hide it and forget about it. The events couldn't be outright remembered by anyone, other than Luka's partial encounter, and so it was more like a bad dream than anything else. The trouble with the reality only served to make it easier to deal with for them. If they could imagine it was merely a dream, then that very well may have been all it was. It was almost like it had happened to somebody else: the outrage, the pain was still there, but it was distant, disconnected.

Luka may have been very well the most affected of them. The others had only heard the stories of the events, and in Miku's case, seen the replay of Luka's memory. None of them remembered the pain they had gone through. Luka, though, could still easily feel the events of the previous night. She could remember the fear, the confusion, the anger. She knew exactly what had happened to her, how close she was to losing, until her inner will became strong enough to fight against Kouki. Luka tried to shake those thoughts away. She should try and enjoy the moment, to help the others along, and by doing so, help herself.

Meiko ended up managing to convince the others that pizza was in fact the proper course of action to take. Within just a few moments, a figure came walking down from the direction of the elevators. Shirogane Tsubasa ended up walking into the room, carrying several pizzas and a couple of boxes of some unidentified contents. The tower combined stretched from her fully extended arms, and nearly blocked her vision with its height. She set the tower down on the coffee table the group was gathered around.

"_Director_ Murakami has decided that she is now too important to do your pizza retrieval duty," Shirogane said. "You guys mind if I join you? I brought supplies." The woman motioned to the boxes on the top of the pile. Meiko's eyes glittered after scanning the box for some indication of its contents.

"Is that… by any chance…?" Meiko began to ask.

"Only the best beer this side of Japan," Shirogane said. "After what happened earlier today, I need a drink. I can only imagine you and Luka could use one too."

"Are you sure your boss is okay with you drinking on the job?" Luka asked. "I somehow don't believe that she'd be all too enthused with that."

"Technically, I'm not on the job," Shirogane said. "I was working on some stuff earlier for overtime pay, but I'm off the clock now. The good doctor did declare today as a break day for us, didn't she?"

"I suppose you're right," Luka said.

"If you keep those cases here, you can totally join," Meiko said enthusiastically. "As long as I get part of it!"

"As much as I'd like to, I can't drink all of this myself," Shirogane said. She separated the boxes around the table, and opened one, letting a cool blast of air escape. Self-cooling packaging was a popular thing in that business now. She pulled a glass bottle out and tossed one to Meiko and another to Luka. She pulled another out and opened it with a bottle opener, and then passed it to the others.

"For the rest of us, let's eat!" Rin proclaimed. "I'm getting hungry over here!" She walked up to the gathered table and began to investigate pizza boxes before locating hers and divvying up her share. The others took their opportunity to also join the storm collecting before the pizza.

"I'm not completely inconsiderate," Shirogane said, and pointed towards the other box she had added to the collection. Miku walked over and opened it, revealing a variety of soft drinks for the under-aged in the group.

"You're the best," Miku said, taking a bottle for herself.

"I try," Shirogane said, sitting back on one of the couches. She waited patiently at the side while the others attempted to find what they wanted. After the others were done, she laid her claim on a few pieces scattered across several of the pizzas. A woman with diverse taste, it seemed.

"So what were you working on?" Luka asked the engineer. "Isn't CV04 put on hiatus right now? And I don't think any of us need tune ups on a module or anything…"

"Technically what I was doing hasn't been authorized yet," Shirogane answered. "I was working on designing the 'intentional failures' that can be introduced to the rest of you."

"Isn't that a bit hopeful?" Luka asked. "I don't know if I can satisfy what the president wants before he gives the okay…"

"Have more faith in yourself, Luka!" Miku said. "Your speech worked, so I'm sure you can do whatever needs to be done!"

"Thank you, Miku," Luka said. "But I'm still not sure…"

"Either way, it gives me something to do," Shirogane said. "If I end up having to scrap it, oh well. I already got paid for it, so I don't care at this point. But I heard what you said, and I've been around this department and seen you work. I have enough faith that I don't consider it a worthless endeavor."

"Didn't I already tell you people?!" Meiko yelled off from the side. "Let's drop it, set it behind us, let what happens happen! I dunno if we'll get changed or not, but better to just set it free than worry about it!"

"Meiko's right," Luka said. "We really do need to put this behind us. I just have to let that fade into the background, act as I always would. Things will work out."

"Exactly!" Meiko said, her point having won. With that, the tone of the conversation inverted. The group spoke of normal things, the recent television shows, songs they had recently worked on. All of them concentrated their effort on setting what happened behind them. Shirogane talked with them openly and on an equal level… And so, the night ended, each of the androids feeling better about the events that had occurred. And the days faded on through the week that would determine their fates…

・ ・ ・

_END __OF __CHAPTER__ 11 - __Moving __On_


	13. Chapter 12 - Epilogue

・ Author's Notes ・

Welcome to chapter 12, the epilogue and final chapter of _The Secrets of Crypton Labs_. I'm sad to see it go, the past few months have been exciting and enjoyable for me as I wrote this. But I always have more things coming… This is why I'm proud to announce my next project: "On The Fly". I've been working with Monica/dashingicecream and we both have put our heads together to create a new and interesting Vocaloid sci-fi project to follow this one. The preview summary: "Megurine Luka is just an ordinary woman, working her ordinary job, on board a space station orbiting a mining planet. But when an unusual teal-haired traveler comes through her station, she finds herself mired in much more than she asked for, and now is on the run…" This project will of course feature the Miku x Luka you've come to expect from me, as well as some Gakupo x Gumi and other pairings that will be better announced in its first chapter. There are currently no projections as to when On The Fly will have its first chapter released, as I'm going back to college soon and won't be able to write as much. I hope you all stick with me, though. (and possibly follow me so as to know as soon as On The Fly is released)

One final note: I'd like to thank everybody who has read up to this point and completed reading this fic. You people are amazing and this wouldn't have been a reality if it wasn't for my 100+ consistent readers. And finally, I'd also like to give a shout-out to all of my reviewers. You guys are the pinnacle of my readers, and you are really the motivation that keeps me going. I hope you can stick around some for the next project. With that, though, thank you again, and I'll see you next project.

— Syarin

・ ・ ・

The bright and sterile lab buzzed with the sound of activity. This event would be finishing a project that had only been started merely just more than a week ago, but was years in the making. Equipment lined the walls — computers, cabinets, and machines with a purpose only understood by their designated engineer. Next to such equipment was a myriad of safety posters, detailing safety goggle procedures, ESD protection notices, and other such standard electronic lab fare. Mysteriously, there was a conspicuous area where a poster appeared to have been removed recently…

Most everything seemed standard, with perhaps a few exceptions, the most flagrant of which being the center of the room. A young woman laid on a bed in the center of the room… or so it seemed. The girl had several parts of her body opened by hatch, revealing a mechanical skeleton and incredibly complex electronics. She laid still, eyes closed, in some sort of deep trance state, unaware of her current condition. She wore barely enough to protect her own modesty, merely underwear to protect her. She was of a medium height and slim, and had incredibly long teal hair that reached nearly to her ankles. On her left shoulder, a tattoo in red merely noted "01".

"Director Murakami!" spoke a young man in a lab coat. He had short black hair, and wore a name tag reading "Research Intern: Moriyama Jirou". "We're just running some final tests, we should be able to bring her back up soon!"

"Excellent work," responded a tall woman, adorned in a lab coat herself. She had long black hair, dark brown eyes, and wore a name tag reading "Vocal Android Department Director: Dr. Murakami Yukari, PhD". "Could you give any sort of exact time?" Another scientist, a graying man standing next to the girl on the bed spoke up.

"We're doing some final tests on the memory banks to make sure that they're cooperating with the new modules, Director," he said. "It should be no more than ten minutes."

"Excellent," Murakami said. "I want her up and ready today! If there are any issues, I'll have somebody's head for it! This project's been perfectly on schedule, but the longer CV01 goes while she's not able to work for us, the more money we serve to lose! Nobody's more popular than CV01, not even either of 02 or even 03, so we need to hurry it up. I'd rather not get my head screamed off by the big wigs because CV01 stayed out of commission for longer than expected."

"Tests complete, Director!" the graying man reported. "Everything seems satisfactory."

"Close her up and get ready to power up inactive systems," Murakami said. The scientists gathered around the girl, and began to detach cables and machinery that were installed inside the hatches. After a couple of minutes, they closed the hatches, leaving the girl nearly indistinguishable from any normal human being, except for the conspicuous cable leading into her neck.

Behind them, the airlock into the sealed lab opened. A new figure entered the room, a woman wearing a lab coat. She had long pink hair, tied back into a ponytail as was the cleanliness standard, and clear blue eyes. A name tag attached to her coat identified her as "Megurine Luka, CV03, Append Project Supervisor".

"I would hate to be late to the party," the woman said, walking up to the director. "I don't wanna miss this moment."

"I wasn't about to let you," Murakami said. "You made this happen for her, I would have gone back and grabbed you even if you didn't want to be here."

"Glad to know I have a superior so respectful of what my choices would be," Luka said with a laugh. "But don't let me stop you. Let's get her up."

"All right, let's get this show on the road!" Murakami exclaimed. "This time I'm doing the fast start up. But unlike last time, I'm gonna keep a careful eye on the error dialogs… I don't want to make any mistakes this time, even if they might end up being beneficial mistakes. Everybody understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" a chorus of voices from the scientists and Luka proclaimed.

"Alright, let's go!" the doctor concluded. "Beginning Vocal Android CV01 Append reanimation sequence…" She entered a command into a computer sitting next to the girl on the bed, and lights began to blink in response. "Powering into sleep mode." The doctor observed the screen, watching closely for any abnormalities as the girl's systems activated. Several moments later, the doctor proclaimed, "all systems, online and functioning!"

The girl on the bed now laid like a normal human, breathing and appearing to be in a gentle state of sleep. The doctor stood and slowly removed the cable from the girl's neck. The port covered itself immediately, leaving the girl indistinguishable from any normal human. Murakami glanced back at the computer monitor. There were no signs of disruption or problems with the new modules. Murakami leaned over the girl and whispered.

"It's time to wake up, Miku." The girl's eyelids began to open, revealing bright teal eyes underneath. "Excellent," the doctor said, standing back up. "Could you sit up for me?" The girl sat up unsteadily. "You're probably still a little disoriented, it might take a second before your mind processes the changes. It should be gone in just a moment."

"I… think I'm starting to feel okay," Miku said. "I feel a little dizzy, and my mind's a mess, but I'm starting to get used to it."

"Well, you're the first one off the line to get the changes," Yukari said. "I can't be too surprised if things are a little rough. It's hard to do tests because we can't take you down to an entirely powerless state without unknown consequences." Miku shook her head around a bit to try and dispel some of the dizziness. She looked around the room a little, and noticed a bright pink spot.

"Luka!" Miku exclaimed happily. "You came!" Luka walked closer, to Miku's side.

"Of course I did," Luka said. "I wouldn't miss such a big event of yours." Miku stretched out her arms and tried to bring Luka closer. The attempt failed, though, Luka wasn't quite close enough. Miku pouted in response.

"Muuu… Come closer, Luka!" Miku said. Luka obliged, and the two brought each other into a hug. Murakami gave them a brief moment alone, and then spoke up.

"Alright you two," the doctor said, "you just love to choose the most inopportune times to be all lovey-dovey, don't you? Unfortunately for you, I have some tests I still want to run before we can let her free entirely. So separate. You can stay in the room, Luka, but I need space to do things." The two separated from their embrace.

"Sorry about that," Luka said. "It's just nearly been a week since I was able to see her…"

"I understand that, but there's a time and a place," Yukari said. "Here and now are neither of those."

"Understood," Luka said, and stepped back. The doctor drew back over to the computer and started operating the controls.

"Are you feeling alright yet?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, the dizziness is gone now," Miku said. "My head's still a little fuzzy, though."

"I'm going to run the standard battery of tests on your mental function," Yukari said. "Bear with me for a couple of minutes." She pressed a button and Miku's head drooped. Text began to scroll by on the monitor for the next couple of moments. When the test was complete, Miku picked her head back up.

"So how'd I do?" Miku asked. Murakami scanned the results.

"You did fine," Yukari said. "I don't see a single problem, which means that any fuzziness that's left will fade with time hopefully."

"So it's all done?" Miku asked.

"Should be," the doctor answered. "There's some clothes for you on the table to the side, and your hair ribbons. I'm going to give you the day off so that we can get a field test to make sure everything's working right. You and Luka can go have fun."

"Thank you so much!" Miku said.

"Alright, that hereby concludes our work here, team!" Murakami announced. "Get outta here, let's give the ladies some privacy." The scientists began to file out of the airlock, with the doctor leaving last. Within a couple of moments, all that remained in the room were Miku and Luka. Miku stood from her position on the bed, and walked over to grab the clothes that had been set out for her. It appeared to be just a normal set of her typical casual clothes. Despite the fact that Miku didn't actually have to undress, Luka turned around to give the girl a little bit of extra privacy.

"You can turn back around now Luka," Miku said, and Luka complied. Miku now stood normally in a simple pink-striped T-shirt and a sky-blue skirt. Of course, it wouldn't be Miku if she wasn't also wearing thigh-high stockings along with it. And as was always the case, Miku had tied her hair back into a pair of pigtails.

"Beautiful as always," Luka said. Miku's cheeks went red. "Now come on, I wanna get out of this silly coat." The two walked into the airlock, and as the doors shut behind them, Luka took off the coat and hung it on a hook to the side. She removed the tie from her hair and shook her head around a little to free it. "Much better. I don't know why Yukari demands we all tie our hair back in there. Especially since she doesn't do it herself."

"I dunno, I kinda like it when you have your hair back," Miku said.

"And I kinda like it when you have your hair down," Luka said. "I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one."

"Fine," Miku said. Having now cleared them, the airlock opened, and Luka led out of the door. "Where are we going?" Miku asked, as Luka turned down the office hallway, headed away from either of their usual haunts of their rooms or the lounge.

"Do you know what today is?" Luka asked.

"I've been out of it for more than a week," Miku said. "If that answers your question…"

"It does, but it means it'll be a surprise when we get there," Luka said. Miku wore an expression of confusion as Luka led her to the elevators, and pressed the button for "up".

"Just what are you planning…?" Miku asked, still confused.

"If I told you just for asking, then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" Luka asked, a mischievous smirk adorning her face. The elevator arrived, and the two girls entered. Luka pressed the button for the ground floor. An authentication message appeared, but Luka waved it away with the "key card" in her hand. The elevator began its ascent as Miku only continued to be confused.

"Don't tell me you plan to…?" Miku partially asked, but dropped her words halfway through.

"Perhaps," Luka said. "I'm not guaranteeing you anything until it actually happens, though." After a moment, the elevator stopped on the ground floor, and opened, allowing the two to exit. Luka proceeded forward, bringing the two to the lobby of the building. Luka walked over to the desk, at a monitor labeled "sign-out".

"You are…" Miku said, answering her own question from before. Luka held her hand out to the machine. It identified her as "Megurine Luka, CV03". It then asked if she was to sign out of the building. She responded to the machine's prompt with a confident yes.

"Your turn, Miku," Luka said, sneaking behind the desk and grabbing something there as Miku walked up to the machine and attempted to repeat Luka's actions. "Hatsune Miku, CV01-Ap, do you wish to sign out of the building?" the machine asked. Miku too responded in the affirmative.

Luka led Miku wordlessly out of the building, and into the city. The girls were surrounded in every direction by buildings, cars, people, and the business of life. Miku had imagined what it was like, actually being out on the streets like this… but hadn't yet experienced it herself. She stood, silent, and simply took in the beauty of the real world. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't the best view either… But Miku nevertheless was entranced.

"I'll give you one more chance to try and guess what today is," Luka said, holding the object she obtained behind her back, as the two stood out on the sidewalk.

"I already told you Luka, I don't know…" Miku said.

"March 14, 2029," Luka responded. Miku instantly attached the date to its role.

"You mean…" Miku said.

"Of course," Luka said. "I wouldn't leave your gift unrewarded, now would I?" She brought the object around from her back, and held it out to Miku. A heart-shaped box, in a bright red, presented itself to Miku. Miku blushed and took the box from Luka's hands.

"Thank you so much, Luka!" Miku said, rushing up to the woman and bringing her into an embrace. "I love you, Luka!" she said happily. Luka's face began to tint a hue of pink.

"I love you too, Miku," Luka said, bringing her arms around the other girl. After a moment of silence together, the girls separated. Miku looked up at Luka.

"Don't tell me you took me all the way out here just to give me some chocolates," Miku said.

"Of course not," Luka said. "You really think I would be that silly?"

"No," Miku said. "But sometimes you don't always think things through before doing them."

"You were out for a week," Luka said. "I had plenty of time to think things through, silly. Now come on, I found a great place where we can have a nice lunch together…" Miku was distracted by the box that she had received, as Luka began to walk in the direction of their destination.

"Hey, wait up!" Miku called as the distance between them increased, and she started to jog to catch up.

"Serves you right for getting distracted by chocolate when I told you we're having lunch!" Luka said with a laugh as she didn't slow down at all.

And so, the android girl and the android woman went about their day, carrying on without a care in the world. Their oppressor and their enemy was gone. They were free. And they planned on using and enjoying that freedom, for as long as they could.

・ ・ ・

_END OF CHAPTER 12 - Epilogue_

_THE SECRETS OF CRYPTON LABS_

_END_


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